Healing
by HeidiW
Summary: Lara Croft is running from both killers and her own past, but ends up finding something entirely unexpected.
1. Chapter 1

Elsie took a drink from her canteen and surveyed the surroundings; the craggy rock face extending upwards to her left caught the sun's setting rays and glowed pinkish-gold, while the mixed pine and deciduous forest ahead and to her right extended as far as the eye could see. She'd been here many times, but the sheer beauty of the place never wore old. The wilderness of Northwestern Maine was a paradise that had never failed to recharge her batteries since graduating from Bowdoin College four years previously.

She took another swallow and closed her eyes, basking in the silence of her environment: no traffic, no ringtones, none of the constant chatter of urbanity, even the wind had died down until the only detectable sound was provided by a distant Hermit Thrush signing its magical song. She sighed.

 _Two more days_ , she thought wistfully, then back to the grind.

She stayed there, perfectly still, letting her consciousness soak in the peace and serenity of the wilds, until eventually the setting sun finally egged her back into motion.

She came upon the blackberry bushes she'd passed earlier. She rummaged through her sack and drew forth a plastic container, deftly popping the lid with her thumb. The berries were lush and ripe: she couldn't help popping every third one into her mouth as she gathered.

Her container was halfway full when she stumbled on something that shifted under her foot, nearly causing her to spill her tiny harvest. She glanced down and frowned.

"What the Hell?"

At Elsie's feet lay a hefty red climbing axe, looking for all the world as though someone had placed it there yesterday. She picked it up and examined it curiously, noting the complete absence of rust. This was no relic from colonial times.

The longer protruding point was caked in a dark substance she couldn't identify; it certainly wasn't mud. She scratched at it with her thumbnail and observed the substance crumble off into her hand. It had a decidedly reddish hue.

 _Dried blood?_ No, it couldn't be...

Or so she hoped. If it was, it had all the makings of a murder weapon.

It was at then that she heard it.

Drip.

She turned around, the rock face that lined the edge of the valley looming before her some ten feet away.

There was nothing for several moments, until...

Drip.

This time she perceived the direction of the sound, turning towards the rocks slightly to her right. She took three steps toward the source and stopped in her tracks.

There, on a slight stony protrusion at about waist level, was a pool of blood, slowly trickling over the edge and down to the ground.

Elsie went cold. Swallowing hard, she slowly turned her gaze upward.

There, partly obscured by a bush growing on an overhanging ledge of the rock face, was a body, sprawled in such a way that one bloody arm dangled over the edge.

Elsie took an instinctive step back.

"Oh _SHIT!_ "

She was breathing heavily now; part of her wanted to turn and run and forget she'd ever witnessed anything amiss. But her rational half won out – she couldn't just turn a blind eye to this.

"Oh my God…oh my God…"

She approached the unmoving form nervously. She slowly reached up and nudged the bloody hand with the pickaxe. It swung loosely. No sign of rigor mortis. She reached up with a trembling hand and felt for a pulse. _Don't be dead…don't you dare be dead, whoever you are…_

It was there. Weak, but definitely there. The arm evidently belonged to a young woman by the look of it.

She allowed herself a slight breath of relief, which was quickly tempered by the realization that she had no way to treat the victim – her sister was the physician of the family, not her. Worse, her rudimentary first aid kit was at her tent a good mile away. But the girl was bleeding out.

She also had no way to climb up to reach her; the rock face was almost vertical, and while she'd tackled fairly daunting climbs before, they had been with proper equipment, none of which she had with her. She considered using the climbing axe but quickly nixed the idea – even if she got up there, she couldn't possibly get both herself and the unconscious girl back down, axe or not.

She tossed the axe a safe distance away and took a deep breath. _Well there's only one thing for it…_

She reached up and took a firm grasp of the girl's arm and gently pulled. Nothing.

 _Dammit!_

She was worried about further injuring the girl – she could well have broken bones, maybe even spinal damage, for all she knew. But she could see no useful alternative. She pulled harder.

The girl's prone body shifted slightly, pebbles and twigs from the half crushed bush tumbling down onto Elsie's face and shoulders. She gritted her teeth and pulled again.

This time the girl's head and second arm spilled over the ledge. Elsie looked up, noting with a twist in her stomach the presence of a nasty gash on the girl's forehead near her left temple. It didn't look good. Some of the blood dripped down onto her chin. _Shit!_

She prepared herself for the next heave, knowing she had no real way of breaking the girl's fall other than by using her own body. _This is gonna hurt…_

She pulled once more, and the girl's prone form slowly slipped from the ledge. Elsie braced herself, shielding her face as well as she could as she crumpled under the girl's falling body. She hit the ground hard, getting a boot in the face for her trouble. Her tailbone throbbed in pain, but at least the girl's head had landed across Elsie's legs and not the hard ground.

She sat there for a moment, breathing hard. "Okay," she whispered to herself. "Worst is over."

 _Holy Shit._

The girl was an absolute mess. Blood was streaming from the gash on her forehead, her cargo pants were ripped in several locations, bloodied skin visible through the gaps in the fabric. Her khaki green tank top was dirty, torn and splattered with both fresh and dried blood. The girl's bare arms and shoulders were criss-crossed in scratches and scars, some healed, others obviously recent and some disturbingly deep. There was no way all this could have happened from a single fall, no matter how severe.

 _What the Hell happened to you?_

She checked the girl's neck for a pulse. She sighed in relief. _Okay, still with me…_

She reached into her bag and pulled out her sweat band, wrapping it around the girl's scalp to cover the bleeding gash, securing it with a shoelace she salvaged from one of the girl's boots. It was a haphazard solution but would have to do for now.

But now the real problem – how to get help?

Her cell was at the tent, and she was aware there was little to no signal out this far. But her immediate problem was to stop the girl's flow of blood: the first aid kit at least had proper ointment, gauzes and bandages, but even if she double timed it to her tent, it'd be almost dark by the time she got back – and then what? There'd be no time to build a proper shelter before it got pitch dark. And she didn't like the idea of leaving a bleeding, unconscious girl in the midst of the forest, even if just for a relatively short time.

No, she'd have to bring her back. And quickly.

She got to her feet, being careful not to jar the girl's head as she slipped her legs out from under her.

She surveyed the area – there were no broken branches long or strong enough to make an adequate sled to drag the girl, and she had nothing with which to cut fresh ones. And even if she could, she had nothing to lash them together to make an effective mode of transport.

Elsie considered the girl and chewed on her lower lip. They were roughly the same size, the mystery girl maybe a fraction taller than she was, though it was hard to judge from a prone figure. She had a slim and athletic build but was decidedly curvaceous for all that. Almost an exaggeratedly perfect figure, the type one would see on photoshopped magazine covers.

 _How'd you manage that, damn you?_ Wondered Elsie, briefly losing focus on the task at hand. Even her face, caked as it was in dirt and blood, would have embarrassed many a supermodel.

A crow cawed nearby, making Elsie jump out of her stupefaction. _Okay…you've got to be what, a hundred and twenty or so?_

Three times the weight of her pack. She could lift her, she was at least confident of that, but carrying such a weight that distance over uneven ground was something she'd never attempted before. She stood there for several moments, considering other options. None were good.

She finally sighed resignedly. _Well, she's not gonna carry herself…_

Elsie retrieved the climbing axe and tied it to her belt. She reached down and took hold of the girl's arm and slowly heaved her onto her back, draping the girl's form over her shoulders like she'd been shown at first aid training back in her college days.

 _Cripes_ , she mused, slowly shifting the girl's weight back and forth until she found the proper balance. _Scratch that….more like a hundred and thirty…_

She took several deep breaths before heading off in the direction of her camp.

-oOo-

Lara's first faint, dawning awareness was of a smell: the light waft of smoke, with the hint of something cooking…fish? She lay there as she slowly became aware of her own breathing, shallow at first, but with increasing steadiness. A few moments later the muted sounds of a crackling fire permeated her consciousness, along with a muffled voice – female? Lara struggled her consciousness into being, her hand reaching out to feel a soft fabric underneath her…where was she?

She slowly opened her eyes, her vision initially blurry and details only slowly coming into focus. She was in a tiny tent, lying atop a sleeping bag, and a glow from what appeared to be dawning light seeped through the narrow opening of the tent flap. The voice she'd heard earlier from outside became more discernable now.

" – need help. I'm at GPS coord – oh, screw it."

A young woman's voice. Not one that she recognized.

Lara sat up bolt upright and immediately gasped at the wave of intense nausea that suddenly overwhelmed her. She clutched her throbbing head with both hands, barely feeling a bandage underneath her fingers through the waves of spinning clouds.

"Oh God," she panted, the nausea quickly bubbling up to the surface. Her ears began ringing as she bent forward and vomited.

Movement from the tent flap. Lara looked up dazedly in time to see the face of a young woman with dishevelled blonde hair peeking out from beneath an old baseball cap, her light grey eyes wide with surprise.

"Hey! You alri – "

But Lara had collapsed back into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Elsie cleaned the young woman's face and did the best she could to wipe up the upchucked mess she'd heaved up, wrapping the towel around a stone before tossing it into the shallow creek that ran next to the campsite. She squeezed back into the tent and drew a blanket up over the girl, frowning at the bruises on her cheekbone and jawline – possibly suffered as a result of her fall, but they looked for all the world as though she'd been through a beating, and a brutal one at that. She brushed a stray lock of brown hair from the girl's face and bit her lower lip.

 _Who did this to you?_

At least she'd finally regained consciousness, if only briefly. After ten hours Elsie had begun to worry the girl might be in a coma. There hadn't appeared to be any broken bones or spinal injuries either, she was intensely relieved to note.

She withdrew back out to the fire, flipping the fish filets over in the shallow pan. _Better not be Vegan_ , she mused. Including the fish she had maybe three days' worth of food for the two of them, keeping the dried tack in reserve for when they would be on the move.

She checked her cell once more and noted the complete absence of a signal. The few times she'd managed to get a tenuous connection was met by indecipherable gibberish at the other end – none of which had lasted for more than a few seconds before cutting out anyway. She knew this going in, but it had never been an issue till now – she enjoyed being cut off from the rest of the world for a few days. But now it had become a liability.

She had two options: she could wait and see if the girl recovered sufficiently to walk out with her, or she could stay put and wait for the inevitable rescue in a few days once she was overdue. Gellis knew the drill.

She sighed, watching as a squirrel observed her curiously from a fallen log across the creek. _So much for recharging my batteries_ , her back and legs still aching from the task of carrying a 100+ pound weight a fair distance over rough ground. In a way though, she'd surprised herself – if someone had asked her a few days if she could perform such a feat, her answer would have been an unequivocal "You're kidding, right?"

 _I'll let her decide_ , she finally resolved. _At the same time maybe I'll find out what's really going on here…_

-oOo-

It was about midday when Elsie heard a slight movement from the tent. A glance back revealed the young woman was sitting upright, and thankfully not retching this time. She looked understandably disoriented, gazing around the interior of the tent before peering out. Brown and grey eyes locked.

Elsie smiled at her before turning back to the fire. "Come on out, sleepyhead," she said in her very friendliest voice, as one would call out to a sister on a family camping trip. "Hope you like pickerel?"

She put the now cold pan back on the fire and sprinkled the remaining filets with wild fiddlehead. She proceeded to cook and flip the filets without turning back to the tent, intending to give the girl as much time and space as she needed to take in her altered circumstances.

Eventually the sound of the tent flap opening caused her to turn back toward her impromptu guest. "Hey," she said sweetly with a reassuring smile.

The girl was sitting back on her shins just outside the tent and looking at her intently. There wasn't fear in the young woman's eyes, Elsie noted, but rather a certain level of uncertainty. Perhaps a measure of suspicion, even.

"Who are you?" she finally uttered, her English accent immediately evident.

Elsie dropped her fork and waddled back to the girl, staying on her knees so as to minimize any appearance of threat the young woman might perceive. She extended her hand.

"Elsie," she said. "Elsie Trainor."

The young woman looked at Elsie's proffered hand for a long moment, to the point that Elsie thought she might not respond, but finally slowly extended her own.

"Lara," she said.

"Yeah, I kinda know that already," said Elsie sheepishly. Lara broke the hand clasp.

"Do you?" she asked, the fire of suspicion flickering in her brown eyes.

"Yeah," repeated Elsie. "Lara Croft. British national. I took the liberty of looking through your wallet, hope you don't mind. I was trying to figure out what was going on. Didn't take any money though, promise."

The two young women looked at each other in silence for several long moments, Elsie leaving it to Lara to decide how to take her admission.

Lara's scraped and scarred shoulders sagged slightly. "I'm sorry," she said wistfully. "I'm just…I'm trying to make sense of all this…"

Elsie smiled. "Well that makes two of us," she answered.

Lara looked at her, her brown eyes pleading. "How did I get here?"

"Oh that," said Elsie conversationally. "Yeah, well…I found you about a mile east of here. You were in a bad way. You scared the bejeesus out of me, actually."

"I did?" asked Lara, confused.

Elsie nodded. "I thought you were a corpse," she said. "You were on a ledge up the rock face, bleeding pretty bad. That was a sixty, seventy foot drop at least – I'm guessing that's where you got that?" She pointed to Lara's bandaged forehead.

Lara's hand rose up to feel the gauze that covered the gash near her temple. "I…I think so."

Elsie considered her next words carefully. "What about the rest?" she asked, gesturing generally towards Lara's bruised and bloodied body. "They all from that fall?"

Lara hesitated, her hand still on her temple. "Yes," she finally said.

Elsie tilted her head. "No Golden Globe for you."

"I'm sorry?"

"You're an atrocious liar, Lara Croft," said Elsie.

Lara bit her lip. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's just…best if you didn't get involved."

Elsie laughed. "Are you kidding? I'm already up to my neck in whatever's going on here."

Lara's hand dropped to her lap. She sighed. "You don't understand – "

"That's right, I don't," agreed Elsie. "But I found you bleeding out, carried your ass a mile through the woods – "

"You did that?"

"Damn right."

"So that's how I got here," said Lara, more to herself.

"Cleaned you up," continued Elsie, "At least as much as I could out here, caught us some fish –"

"Thank you," said Lara earnestly. "Really. But please believe me, you don't want to be more involved than you already are."

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" asked Elsie.

"Because it's dangerous," said Lara a little firmly. A little too firmly as it turned out, as she quickly demurred. "Sorry…"

"Yeah I gathered that much already," echoed Elsie. "The two men who were here a few hours ago, pretending to be game wardens? Well, I didn't buy it."

Lara froze. For a moment Elsie thought she'd stopped breathing.

"What men?" she asked ominously.

"Two big dudes, said they were wardens looking for a lost hiker," said Elsie. "Described you to a tee. Saw them coming from a ways off, so I threw most of my stuff on you in the tent…they definitely weren't game wardens. No uniforms, for one, and from my experience, wardens don't normally carry honking big machine guns."

Lara's mouth was closed tightly.

"Said I hadn't seen anyone," continued Elsie. "Told them the blood trail leading here was a rabbit I'd gutted. Good thing they didn't ask to see it."

Lara swallowed hard. "Very good thing."

"Point is," continued Elsie, "I busted my gut to get you out of there. You're in some sort of trouble. It wouldn't make much sense to leave you to the wolves now, would it?"

"I – "

"Tell you what," said Elsie as she shuffled back to the fire to flip the now sizzling filets, "You eat up, stretch your legs, get your bearings and stuff."

She glanced back at Lara over her shoulder. "You haven't eaten in at least 12 hours, right? You must be famished."

The young woman was looking at her with an odd expression, her lower lip quivering slightly. Elsie turned back to the fire and sprinkled the remaining fiddlehead onto the filets.

"Thanks," said Lara, her voice coarse.

"You bet," said Elsie. "Like some fries with that?"

She looked back. Lara was staring down at the ground, but for the first time since she'd come across the young woman, she saw the faintest hints of a smile.


	3. Chapter 3

The sky was becoming overcast, a dark hue looming to the west.

"Crap," muttered Elsie. She closed her book - she'd hardly read anyway, being distracted by the plight of the young woman back at her tent. But if they were to set out now, they'd be caught out in the elements when the rains hit. There was still time to get back to civilization, she mused, but leaving in the morning would be cutting it close.

Elsie huffed. _Just listen to me_ , she mused, _worrying about missing a day's work. Put it in perspective, Else…_

She rose from the boulder she'd been perched on along the creek's edge and made her way back to her tent. Lara had finished her small meal, and was currently at the stream with her right pant leg rolled up, cupping water onto her exposed right knee.

 _Holy shit_ , thought Elsie, watching as blood washed away from the shredded skin. Lara looked up at her approach.

"Hi!" said Elsie energetically, trying not to broadcast her revulsion at the sight of the girl's mangled knee as she sat down next to her.

"So, you gonna spill the beans?"

Lara sighed. "I can't", she said. "I'm sorry. If I were to tell you, and those men returned – "

"Okay, hypothetical question," countered Elsie. "Say those dudes did show up again, and I said you hadn't told me anything, would they believe me?"

Lara considered her query. "No," she finally admitted. "They wouldn't."

"Would they let me just walk away?"

Lara swallowed. "No," she said darkly. "You wouldn't walk away."

"Well then…"

"Which is why we have to go our separate ways," said Lara, sponging up her wet and bloodied knee with Elsie's old towel. "It's for the best."

"What?" exclaimed Elsie, incredulous.

"I'll manage," stated Lara. "I have before."

"You can't be serious," said Elsie. "I thought we'd been through this. I'm not leaving you to the wolves, Lara."

"You have to," insisted the brunette. "For your own sake. And you'll hardly be leaving me to the wolves. You've done more than enough."

Elsie watched in disbelieving silence as the young woman dried off her knee and wrapped it in gauze. Apparently satisfied at her improvised field repair, she rolled her pant leg back down.

"Do you have any idea how this is going to weigh on me?" lamented Elsie.

Lara looked at her. "What do you mean?"

Elsie could feel the emotions bubbling up within her. She gestured at Lara. "I came across this half-dead girl out in the middle of nowhere, and you want me to just leave it at that? How do you think I'll feel wondering if you ever made it out alive?"

Lara's expression was one of regret. "I'm sorry," she said. "I hadn't thought…I could contact you once things are settled? That way you'd know – "

"And if you don't?" countered Elsie, her voice becoming hoarse. "You expect me to live with that?"

Lara bit her lip.

"Elsie…"

" _Dammit!_ " blurted the blonde, slamming her first against the ground as she fought to bring her welling emotions under control.

Lara's hand reached out hesitatingly.

"Hey…"

Elsie shook her head despondently. "I'm sorry," she said, her voice quivering. "I just don't like the idea of being responsible for someone's death…"

Lara visibly flinched. Something in that statement had hit a nerve.

"That…is exactly why I have to do this on my own," said the brunette softly.

Elsie grasped Lara's hand in hers and squeezed tightly.

"This," she said, her voice quivering and tears welling in her eyes, raiding the clasped hands before her. "This right here. This is what it means, Lara – "

"I can't – "

"You have to."

"Elsie," said Lara slowly. "There's something you're not telling me. Isn't there?"

The blonde looked at her and fought to bring her breathing under control. She nodded slowly.

"Why do you feel so responsible for me?" asked Lara.

Elsie's emotions were threatening to erupt volcanically; she was struggling to keep them confined to a lava flow.

"Because," she finally whispered, "If I can save a life…it might help balance the books of the universe…at least in my mind, anyway…"

There was a long silence between the two girls. Finally Elsie answered Lara's unvoiced question.

"Four years ago I lost a friend of mine," she said painfully. "She was driving me home from a late night party…a drunk driver and…you know the drill. I walked away without a scratch. Without a single, fucking scratch, Lara! I showed up at her parent's house clean as a whistle to tell them their daughter had died. Driving me home from a stupid party."

"I'm sorry," said Lara softly.

Elsie swallowed hard. "It took me a long time to convince myself that I had no way of knowing…even now sometimes…shit like that changes people, you know?"

The brunette had a faraway look in her eyes. "Yes," she whispered. "It does."

Silence. Elsie could sense something was going through the other girl's mind.

"Lara?"

Lara blinked. "Okay," she finally said, emerging from her seeming reverie. "Yes, well…let's get out of these woods, shall we?"

Elsie threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around Lara as the force of the impact threw both girls to the ground.

"Thank you!" squealed Elsie gratefully, "Thank you, thank you, thank you – "

"Ow, ow, ow, ow – " blurted Lara.

Elsie quickly pushed herself off into a squatting position. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry," she said, her hands cupped over her mouth. "I forgot you're walking wounded – I'm such a douche!"

"You're not a douche, just…energetic," said Lara, wincing as she slowly drew herself back up. "I think you'd get along fabulously with a friend of mine, actually."

"Well, just so long as I didn't make anything worse," said Elsie. "We're running low on bandages."

A sharp thunderclap in the distance jolted both girls.

"Damn," muttered the brunette, eyeing the darkening skies to the west.

"That's gonna be bad," said Elsie, wiping her tears. "No telling how long it's going to last either…"

Lara looked at her watch. "We'd best get moving, then. How far to civilization from here?"

"Well, closest would be an old logging road about 10 miles southeast of here," said Elsie. "That was my way back, actually. If the old girl starts, we can be in Portland in a few hours."

"The old girl?" asked Lara quizzically.

Elsie shrugged sheepishly. "It's what I call her," she said. "A '73 Volkswagen Thing. She's just a bit temperamental, sometimes."

Another clap in the distance. Lara looked comptemplative.

"Is that the nearest road?" she asked.

"By far, yeah," said Elsie. "Why?"

Lara chewed her lower lip. "That's where they'll be waiting."

"Where who will be waiting?" asked Elsie. "Those game warden dudes?"

Lara nodded slowly. "Or more like them. And I have no weapons…"

"I have a pocketknife," proffered Elsie before remembering a detail. "Oh, wait just a sec…"

She jumped up and retrieved the climbing axe from underneath her pack. "I found this with you yesterday…"

Lara's eyes blinked in recognition. Elsie thought she saw a measurable relief come over the brunette as she handed the tool to her, watching as Lara manipulated the axe with seeming fondness.

"I take it that's _your_ 'Old Girl'?" asked Elsie.

Lara's axe-fondling abruptly ceased. "In a manner of speaking, I suppose," she said self-consciously. She looked up at the blonde. "I just feel a bit naked without it."

"That must go over well at airports," teased Elsie. "Or job interviews."

"Within reason!" countered Lara, shocked. "I don't sleep with the bloody thing!"

"Didn't mean to imply," said Elsie. She sat back down next to Lara. "So, what's our plan?"

"I don't like walking to a prepared trap," said Lara. "Even when I know it's there waiting for me."

She looked up at the darkening skies. "Is there some other way back? Some way less obvious?"

Elsie thought. "Well, the Canadian border is roughly 20 miles to the Northwest," she said. "But there's more wilderness on that side, too…and I'm not sure where the local roads are up there."

"I take it you don't have a map?" asked Lara.

"I do, but it's Maine only. Sorry. You know us Yanks, the known world stops at our borders, right? Beyond there be dragons."

Lara smiled slightly.

"Or we can wait to be rescued," suggested Elsie. "I'll be overdue in a couple of days, so…"

"I don't like that idea," said Lara bluntly. "Sitting here for all that time…"

"Still not big on relying on others, huh?"

"No," affirmed Lara.

The wind was picking up.

"Right then, Door number Two," said Elsie. "Maybe we should set out in the morning though? I'd really like not to be caught out in that tempest…"

Lara looked contemplative. "I suppose that'd be best," she finally admitted. She suddenly blinked. "Hold on, what about shelter?"

"Right there," countered Elsie, pointing at her tent. "It's not the London Savoy, but it'll keep rain off our heads."

Lara looked back to her. "But that's a one person tent," she said. "I barely fit in there by myself."

Elsie stood up. "What's the matter, Lara Croft?" she laughed. "Never slept with a girl before?"


	4. Chapter 4

The tent shook vigorously, its surface reverberating under a constant battering of wind and heavy rain. Lightning cracked alternately from a distance and uncomfortably near, nature's forces seemingly bent on utter destruction. But for now, the two young women inside were dry and relatively comfortable.

At least, as comfortable as could be expected given the lack of space. Elsie had the distinct impression Lara wasn't exactly a touchy-feely type. She tried her best to give the girl some space, not an easy feat within the snug confines of the tiny tent and a shared sleeping bag.

Elsie took her tiny LED tea light and flicked it on.

"Hope you don't mind," she said. "I have trouble sleeping if it's completely dark. Irrational, I know."

Lara smiled tiredly. "I don't mind," she said. "Had trouble with monsters under your bed as a child?"

It was Elsie's turn to smile. "Something like that."

The wind howled outside, shaking the tent constantly; Elsie was thankful they'd taken steps to reinforce the anchors. So far there were no apparent leaks – she earnestly hoped it would hold up through the night.

The two young women lay on their sides, facing each other, the tiny tea light between them providing the tent with a dim golden glow. Elsie noted Lara's brown eyes staring back at her, unblinking. This close, she could see herself reflected in the other girl's pupils.

"I'm not gonna die," said Elsie softly, having a fair idea what the brunette was thinking. "Stop torturing yourself."

Lara's mouth opened in surprise.

"You're...unusually perceptive," said the brunette.

"We've both been through some pretty serious shit, right?" said Elsie. "When I told you about my friend...you knew exactly how it felt…didn't you?"

Lara was silent.

"It's okay," said Elsie. "You don't have to say it…I saw it in your eyes. Survivor's guilt."

"Don't go there," interjected the brunette. "Please."

"It'll poison your soul, Lara," said the blonde softly, her eyes boring into Lara's in search of the other girl's truth. "I mean that. Nothing good can come of it. You'll come to hate yourself."

Lara swallowed. "I'm not sure I have a soul left to poison, Elsie…"

The blonde shook her head slowly. "How can you even say that?"

"You don't want to know, believe me."

"Yes I do," insisted Elsie. "Geez, Lara, you look like you've been to Hell and back, and I'm not talking about just today. What happened to you?"

Lara's breathing deepened. Elsie could sense she was delving into dangerous territory. But there was something about the mysterious girl that she needed to bring out of the darkness.

Lara's jaw clenched.

"Please."

"Don't do this," whispered Lara.

"Tell me," repeated Elsie. "I'm not letting this drop, Lara."

The two girls stared at each other in silence, the contest of wills engulfing the small tent.

"I'm not squeamish," insisted Elsie.

"You will be," said Lara.

"Let me be the judge of that," said the blonde.

Lara sighed. She closed her eyes for several long moments before continuing.

"I've killed people, Elsie," she finally said, her voice barely audible.

The blonde blinked. She had anticipated something deep, but this…

"' People'? ", she asked.

"I don't know how many," said Lara darkly. "Fifty. A hundred. I don't know. I would've killed them all if I could've."

"Holy shit."

"Does it make you feel better knowing you're sharing a tent with a mass murderer?"

"I don't believe that for a second," countered Elsie forcefully.

"It's true."

"No," countered Elsie. "It's not. What the Hell, Lara? There has to be more to it than that. Self-defense, or – "

"Does it matter?" asked the brunette. "They're just as dead."

"Damned right it does," the outside storm now only dimly comparable to the raw energy which now crackled within the small tent. "You're no murderer. I can sense shit like that about people, Lara."

"Tell that to the corpses."

Elsie would not be deterred. "Look, when a soldier kills to protect those he loves, does that make _him_ a murderer?"

"That's different."

"No it's not. You had to have done it for a reason," affirmed the blonde. "What would've happened if you hadn't?"

The brunette's eyes misted over.

 _Oh, fuck…_

"I felt nothing," whispered Lara, avoiding the question. "I killed, and killed, and none of it weighed on me. I saw them as vermin. What does that tell you, Elsie?"

 _Who are 'them'_ , thought the blonde.

"I think you do feel, Lara," asserted Elsie slowly, sensing she was opening a long sealed vault in some dark psychological abyss. "You lock it away. Bury it."

"No," said Lara. "There's nothing."

"I told you you're a horrible liar, Lara…except to yourself," said the blonde. "I think it's how you cope with it."

"How would you cope, Elsie?" asked Lara, her voice cracking.

Elsie felt her emotions welling up. "I can't answer that, Lara," she said quietly. "I don't know what happened to you. Unless you tell me."

She reached out, entwined her hand with Lara's and squeezed tightly.

"But one thing I can promise you," she said earnestly. "Beyond any measure of doubt, as sure as there's a sky over our heads and ground beneath our feet…there are no monsters in _this_ tent."

The brunette's eyes were closed tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh, Lara," sighed Elsie. She shifted closer and wrapped her arms around the other girl. She drew the brunette close, pressing her chin into the nook of Lara's neck.

"See," she whispered into the brunette's ear as she gently stroked her hair. "You do have a soul after all, Lara Croft…"

Outside, the storm continued to rage and howl throughout the night.

-oOo-

Lara's eyes fluttered open; she immediately remarked the stillness around her. Only the faint chirping of early morning birds drifted to her ears. The storm had long since passed.

She raised her head: the tent flap was open, the dim light of dawn permeating the interior to reveal she was its sole occupant. A quick glance revealed Elsie's backpack and gear were still present.

She raised herself up on one elbow. She felt oddly different; what was it about this strange girl that had caused her to go into full-blown meltdown? She's said more to her than she'd ever had to her forcibly-appointed shrink. And she hadn't felt as though she were being dissected, clinically appraised or otherwise judged.

They'd spent much of the night talking, Lara revealing her experiences on Yamatai, her fears of losing Sam, her anguish and responsibility for the deaths of her friends, and even the deaths of so many Solarii, including those she had executed in cold blood. The girl soaked it all up like some sort of emotional sponge.

"This is going to be with you a long time, Lara," Elsie had said. "You're going to have to find a way to live with it. You'll be stuck in a half-life till you've made peace with it all."

 _Make peace_ , Lara thought. She had no idea how to go about that, especially as there was no end in sight to the killings. It was part of her. But something about the girl's quiet acceptance had moved her profoundly.

Someone approached the tent. Lara tensed up instinctively, her eyes darting to her climbing axe, within easy reach in the corner.

"Hey sleepyhead," said Elsie, crouching down in the tent entrance and handing her a canteen. "Everything's ready, we just need to dismantle the tent and we're off." She looked at her with concern. "You ok?"

Lara met her gaze. "I…I don't know," she finally admitted. "This was all rather…new for me."

Elsie nodded, biting her lip. After a moment, she leaned forward and planted a delicate kiss on the tip of Lara's nose.

Lara blinked wide-eyed in surprise; Elsie smiled and drew back outside.

 _Well…that was…different._

She drew herself into a kneeling position and had started to roll up the sleeping bag when she heard a voice outside.

"Well hello again," Elsie was saying loudly. "Any luck searching for that hiker?"

 _Shit!_

Lara silently ambled forward and peered out of a crack in the tent flap.

The 'game wardens' had returned.

 _Trinity._


	5. Chapter 5

Lara grabbed her climbing axe and crouched, her body tensing in anticipation. Through the tent flap she saw two armed men approaching Elsie from the opposite side of the stream – she shuddered as she recognized them. They were part of the group that had tortured and killed professor Beacham for refusing to divulge the location of the Ogham stones. To her credit, the blonde had called out to them when they were still half a football pitch away to give Lara at least some warning.

Lara's heart raced; she hated the feeling of utter helplessness. She desperately hoped Elsie could bluff her way out of the encounter – the girl was completely defenceless.

Once the men crossed the stream and drew before Elsie the size disparity between the parties underlined to Lara just how vulnerable the willowy-framed girl was. They were half a head taller than the blonde and easily twice her weight each.

Lara tightened her grip on the axe handle, her ire rising to dangerous levels.

 _If they so much as lay a finger on her…_

Elsie, amazingly, continued to behave completely casually, smiling and gesturing as though addressing random strangers on the street. But Lara knew full well these men were not to be trifled with.

As one of the thugs continued to engage Elsie in conversation the other gazed about the camp, the barrel of his submachinegun pointing downward with his finger ominously near the trigger. Lara could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation, but from the sounds of it the men were demanding something, and the longer it went on the more apprehensive she became.

Elsie turned around and began striding at a measured pace toward the tent, the men following behind.

 _My God, Elsie…_

Lara shifted to one side of the tent and held her axe at the ready.

The blonde crouched down half inside the tent and rummaged through her pack, pulling out a black canister. The men were waiting outside only a few feet behind her. She looked up at Lara for an instant, her grey eyes wide: the girl was terrified.

She silently mouthed two words: _Be ready._

She grasped her pack and dragged it outside.

"Here you go," she said in a conversational tone, keeping the canister hidden behind her left thigh. "Have a look all you like."

Lara peeked through the flap. The man who'd originally engaged her in conversation took her pack and was emptying out its contents on the ground, while the other looked on with mild disinterest.

The talkative man rummaged through Elsie's gear. "Check the tent," he said to his companion, nodding his head in Lara's direction.

 _Shit!_

Elsie's composure suddenly evaporated as the second man approached Lara's hideaway. "Um, do you mind? I have some, uh – "

The man ignored her and continued walking.

In an instant, Elsie whipped out her canister and sprayed an orange mist in the talkative man's face, point blank. He immediately cried out in pain, clawing at his eyes in desperate attempts for relief. His companion whipped around and levelled his rifle at Elsie.

 _Now!_

Lara burst from the tent and brought her axe down on the man near the tent, the point piercing the top of his skull with a moist _crunch_. He collapsed instantly.

The talkative man stumbled backward, fumbling for his rifle. Lara dropped to the ground and picked up his companion's submachinegun, just as the half-blind man managed to squeeze off a single shot that grazed her arm. Lara squeezed the trigger.

Half a dozen shots struck the man square in the torso, and he was down.

It was done. She barely felt the throbbing pain from the wound in her arm. Her headache was another matter – her head pounded painfully. The sudden exertion had taken its toll.

She turned around. Elsie was standing with her hands cupped over her mouth, her eyes wide as saucers as she looked down at the blood-ridden corpses.

 _Damn._

"I'm truly sorry you had to see that," said Lara.

The girl was almost hyperventilating. "I've never…seen anything like that before," she gasped.

"This is why I wanted to keep you out of it," added Lara. "This was a bad idea – "

"No!" blurted the blonde, "No…I'll be alight…really…it _was_ them or us, wasn't it?"

Lara nodded slowly. "That's how it is with these people, Elsie," she affirmed. "There's no reasoning with fanatics."

"But…who are they?"

"Trinity, I'm guessing," said Lara, hoisting the machinegun onto her back and adjusting the carrying strap for her smaller frame.

Elsie looked at her. "But who's Trinity? From that island?"

"Not exactly, no," said Lara. "More like some sort of cult with ties to it. I'm not really sure what they are, really."

She moved close to the blonde and gazed at her with concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Elsie nodded, her breathing slowly becoming more controlled. "I will be," she said. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of fresh blood trickling down Lara's arm and hand. "Lara, you've been shot!"

"It's nothing," said Lara. "I'll patch it up later. Why don't you pack the tent and I'll take care of these two, all right?"

Elsie hesitated. "If you're sure," she breathed. "Shit, Lara…you lost so much blood yesterday…you should let me - "

"Don't worry," said Lara with a reassuring smile. "It's not as bad as it looks. But we have to get going."

Elsie was drawing off when Lara stopped her with a question.

"Wait," she said, "What were they looking for? Why were they going through your pack?"

The blonde turned back to her. "I don't know," she said. "They wouldn't say. But they weren't playing the game warden shtick anymore, Lara…that scared the Hell out of me."

Lara could see the residual panic still lingering in the girl.

Elsie swallowed hard. "I wasn't going to walk away from this one, was I?" she asked.

Lara shook her head slowly. "No," she finally said. "I don't think so…you have good instincts, Elsie…"

"So, I cheated death," said the blonde, half to herself. "The Reaper's going to be pissed with me…"

"I'm very glad you pissed him off," said Lara truthfully.

Elsie looked back at her. "Yeah," she finally said, a half smile brightening her pale features. "Yeah, so am I…screw the Reaper, right?"

As the blonde drew off to dismantle the tent Lara got to work searching the bodies for anything that might reveal her foe's identity.

-oOo-

By midday they'd covered six miles: the undulating terrain, thick brush, rocky obstacles and seemingly myriad streams and rivers had conspired to thoroughly exhaust the two young women. To compound matters, they weren't exactly travelling light: Elsie carried her 40-pound pack and Lara one of the submachineguns and spare ammunition clips she'd salvaged from the two 'wardens'. But the blonde took some solace in the knowledge they were making good time despite it all, and that the difficult terrain would also slow any potential pursuers. The worst part was the heat: the sun was now directly overhead, and while the forest canopy provided some measure of relief from the worst of it, both young women were drenched in sweat.

They stopped to rest on a fallen moss-covered log that jutted out over a brook. "Here," said Elsie, fishing out her first aid kit and signalling for Lara's arm. "Let me see that."

The brunette seemed about to protest but finally sighed, proffering her bloodied limb in silence. Elsie proceeded to clean the wound and bandaged it as best she could, tying it off with a knot after finding the adhesive tape wouldn't stick to Lara's sweat-soaked skin. "Don't get hurt again, ok?" she said, playfully mussing up the brunette's hair in emphasis. "That's the last of the gauze."

Lara smiled. "I'll try to keep that in mind," she said as she slid off the log, taking their canteens to the stream for replenishment.

Elsie sighed as she watched in silence, astonished at the brunette's resilience; from what Lara had told her about Yamatai, going through Hell seemed to be her lot in life. The fact that she'd survived it all without descending into complete madness was testimony to the young Englishwoman's underlying strength of character, but Elsie knew Lara was walking a grease-smeared tightrope over a bubbling volcano, playing a desperate game of Russian Roulette with both her sanity and life itself. The thought of the young woman losing either twisted Elsie's stomach painfully.

"Thanks," she said as Lara returned her canteen and sat on the log next to her. They ate the remainder of Elsie's blackberries while the blonde considered how to replenish their rations – at this rate they were looking at perhaps three days in the wilderness and they barely had two days of food left, even considering the dried tack. The notion of going without food for even a day at their current rate of physical expenditure was not a pleasant prospect - they needed calories. Fishing was out of the question, at least until they stopped for the night.

Elsie noticed Lara unconsciously fingering the green pendant she wore around her neck her gaze fixed on the stream beneath them.

"What is that, anyway?" she asked. "Memento of some kind?"

Lara smiled. "Yes, it is, in fact," she said, gazing down at the tiny jade piece in her hand. "It's a Magatama. It's the first piece I collected with my father."

"Really? Lara that is _so_ cool," said Elsie. "It looks Asian."

"It is, actually," said Lara. "It's Japanese, from the Kofun period, around 300 AD or so."

Elsie smiled. "How old were you?"

"I was five," said Lara.

"God I envy you," said the blonde. "Do you still go on digs together?"

The brunette slowly shook her head, her gaze suddenly distant.

"Lara?"

The young Englishwoman was silent for a time – Elsie wondered if she'd somehow said something wrong.

"No," said Lara finally. "We don't."

Elsie chewed her lower lip.

"Is he..."

"My parents disappeared on an expedition in the Himalayas. I was eleven," finished Lara.

Elsie's jaw dropped.

 _Oh my God…_

"Lara…I'm so sorry…I didn't mean…"

Lara turned to her. "I know you didn't," she said sadly.

Elsie's heart felt like it was going to sputter to a stop. "Dammit Lara…you never seem to catch a break, do you?"

Lara smiled. "Tell me about your father," she said.

Elsie almost choked.

"My father…was an absolute bastard," said Elsie. "Ran off years ago."

It was Lara's turn to look aghast.

"Don't feel bad," said Elsie. "Leaving was the only good thing he ever did. I don't miss him, I can promise you."

The two young women looked at each other. Elsie sighed.

"Can you believe us," said Elsie, shaking her head. "We're gonna need walk-in closets for all our skeletons…"

"Elsie, if – "

Lara was interrupted by the sound brush movement behind them. The brunette immediately unslung her rifle as Elsie dropped down from the log into a crouching position.

From the bushes barely ten yards away emerged a small black form. Elsie blinked.

A bear cub.

 _Oh this is not good, not good at all._ The mother couldn't be far away.

She reached up and grabbed her pack from the log.

In that instant a large sow stood up on its hind legs from the brush and peered directly at her, barely twenty yards away.

She heard Lara cock her rifle behind her.

"No!" she whispered urgently. "Don't shoot, Lara, please – "

"Elsie, back away!"

The sow dropped back out of sight, the cub seemingly confused about what to do, alternately looking at the women and back in the direction of its mother.

"Let's just…give them room…" whispered Elsie, fumbling through her bag for her spray canister.

She'd barely taken two steps back when a thunderous crashing sound was accompanied by the ominous sight of shaking brush. The sow burst from cover and made straight for the Elsie. The blonde jumped up and waved her arms frantically, in so doing blocking her companion's shot.

Lara screamed.

" _ELSIE!"_


	6. Chapter 6

Every muscle in Lara's body coiled as she strained up on her tiptoes, desperate to get an angle on the charging sow without hitting Elsie. But the blonde was gesticulating too wildly. The bear was almost on her.

 _"ELSIE!"_

At the last instant the sow veered off, charging back into the woods, cub in tow.

Lara was breathing heavily, her finger still on the rifle's trigger as she listened to the receding sounds of the bears crashing through the underbrush.

The blonde stood still for several moments, her back still to Lara as the sounds of the retreating a bears faded to nothing. She turned around and faced the brunette, a strangely blank expression on her face.

"Are you stark raving MAD?" exclaimed Lara hotly. "You could've gotten yourself killed! What happened to all that talk of cheating the Reaper?"

Elsie looked up at her and smiled.

"Bullocks!" continued Lara angrily. "There's nothing funny about - "

The blonde's knees buckled: her body crumpled lifelessly to the ground.

-oOo-

Elsie came to inside the familiar though unexpected confines of her tent; she drew herself up, glancing about in confusion.

 _Where…oh wait…that bear…but how'd I…?_

She peered out of the tent flap. Lara was crouched on her haunches a few feet away, stoking a small fire. From the sun's position overhead it seemed to be midafternoon. She blinked, still trying to piece together the events that had brought her here – she had no memory of them making camp.

"Hey," she said.

Lara glanced at her and nodded, then returned to the fire.

Elsie crawled out of the tent and drew herself next to Lara.

"Did you set up the tent?"

"Mm-hm," said Lara quietly as she threw another stick on the flames.

"What…what happened? I think I missed part of the program…"

"You passed out," said Lara neutrally, not looking at her.

"I did?" said Elsie. She looked around the tiny campsite. An improvised spit skewering a deskinned rabbit leaned up against a tree. "I guess…I did…"

Lara continued stoking the flames in silence.

Elsie grasped her arm. "Hey," she said. "You mad at me?"

Lara sighed "No, I'm not mad at you, Elsie," said the brunette quietly. She turned to the blonde. "But that little escapade reminded me why I'm best off on my own."

Elsie released her grip on the young Englishwoman's arm.

"What do you mean?"

"You're slowing me down," said Lara. "I had to make camp when I couldn't get you to come around."

"Slowing you down?" repeated Elsie. "Lara, we made great time this morning – "

"For half a day." Finished Lara.

"What are you saying," said Elsie. "Are you leaving me behind?"

The brunette shook her head. "No, of course not," she said. "I said we'd make it out of these woods together, and we will. I won't 'leave you to the wolves', as you so eloquently put it. You'll have balanced the books, as you'd hoped."

"Then….what _are_ you saying, Lara?" asked Elsie, her anxiety growing.

"That's where it ends, Elsie," said Lara softly. "That's where it has to end. For your sake."

"For _my_ sake?" said Elsie. "How do you figure that?"

"You saved my life, Elsie," said Lara. "Perhaps twice, even. And I'm grateful, truly. But you have to understand…people who associate with me…have a horrid tendency to end up dead."

Elsie sat back. "So, we get to the crux of the matter," she said. "The guilt, again."

"It's not about that," said Lara. "I just…"

"…don't want to feel responsible for another death," concluded Elsie.

Lara looked at her. "Please don't make this more difficult than it has to be," she said.

"Well I'm glad it's difficult, at least," said Elsie.

"It's the only way for me, Elsie," said Lara.

"Bull," said Elsie. "You're running."

Lara closed her mouth tightly and turned to the fire.

"You don't know what it's like," said the brunette.

"Don't I?"

Lara turned back to her, her eyes reflecting their recalled conversation of the previous day, the painful revelation of Elsie's encounter with a drunk driver.

"I'm sorry," said the young Englishwoman. "But that was never your fault. You had no possible way of knowing – "

"And did you?" interjected the blonde.

Lara turned back to the fire, a frown coming across her features.

"Things happen that are beyond our control, Lara," continued Elsie. "Being dealt a shitty hand doesn't mean you played the game of life wrong."

"Yamatai," whispered the brunette, "was no game, Elsie…"

"Has it occurred to you, Lara," prodded the blonde, "that _everyone_ has a tendency to 'end up dead'? It's just a matter of how and when."

"Don't trivialize this," said Lara.

"Oh, I am so not doing that," said Elsie, shaking her head. "But if I had to die, Lara, I'd much rather it be for something meaningful. And I'll wager your friends on that island felt the same way."

Lara threw her stick into the fire with vigour, a resulting shower of embers drifting upwards.

"Don't you _DARE_ bring them into this," she said angrily.

Elsie shuffled closer. "I'll tell you a secret," she said. "One of my favourite authors once said that what we're all defined by what we do in the time given to us. That really stuck with me, Lara. Some of us have loads of it, some of us, not so much. And there's no way to know. But given the option of burying my head in the sand till a ripe old age or making a difference and kicking the bucket tomorrow, well, I know what would be my decision. And that's my choice, Lara. Just as it was for your friends."

The brunette turned to her, her beautiful brown eyes glistening.

"Damn you," she hissed.

"They died so that you could live, Lara," continued the blonde. "How would they feel if you threw that away? If they could see you living a half-life?"

Lara glared at her. "How can you ever expect me to forget – "

"No," said Elsie. "Not forget. You'll never do that. But maybe you should really give forgiving a try. As in yourself."

Elsie gently cupped Lara's shoulder. She could feel the girl trembling.

"Come back to the living," she said quietly. "Don't let the bastard win."

The young Englishwoman's eyes bored into hers, searching.

"Who _ARE_ you?" she whispered.

The blonde smiled.

"A friend, I hope," said Elsie.

The two young women were absolutely still.

The brunette slowly nodded. "Yes," she finally said, her voice barely audible. "I think…I'd like that…"

Elsie leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the brunette. The young Englishwoman tensed momentarily, but a few moments later Elsie felt the girl's form soften, her arms sliding up her back.

"Just don't die on me, okay?" whispered Lara into Elsie's ear. "I'd be very cross…"

"Well…alright then," said Elsie, smiling and crying at the same time. "If you insist. Screw the Reaper, right?"

Lara nodded.

"Screw the Reaper."

-oOo-

They spent the rest of the afternoon gathering what edible foodstuffs could be had within easy walking distance from the tent; berries, nuts, mushrooms, crab apples, cherries, even a small helping of honey Elsie had managed to steal from a bee's nest, running back to camp with a look of triumph and terror. The hooks she and Lara had set out in the stream had managed to procure a decent sized whitefish. In all, they'd managed to gather sufficient rations to see them back to civilization.

Lara kicked out the fire upon onset of dusk; while it seemed likely they'd evaded potential pursuers, she'd argued against taking unnecessary risks, and having a beacon blazing away at night was just too dangerous. By twilight the two young women lay in their tiny shelter, Elsie's tiny electric tea light providing the barest of illumination as they talked quietly into the night.

"What were you doing here, Elsie?" asked Lara. "I take it hiking's a passion of yours?"

Elsie smiled. "That's an understatement," she answered. "I love getting back to nature. I have to get away from it all from time to time, recharge my batteries, you know? I'm not much of a people person."

Lara huffed. "I find that very hard to believe."

Elsie thought. "Okay, scratch that," she said. "No, you're right. I am a people person. Just not a crowd person."

Lara propped her head up on her wrist. "Phobia?"

"Oh no, nothing like that," said Elsie. "I like talking to people, you know? I love figuring people out…"

"So I noticed," remarked Lara knowingly.

Elsie grinned back. "Well, I've become pretty good at it over the years," she continued. "But you lose all that in a crowd, Lara."

"How so?"

"People just…behave differently in crowds," said Elsie. "It's the herd mentality. There's so much posturing, so much playacting…it's hard to get a good read from people when they're in façade mode."

"I can understand that," echoed Lara. "I've always been a little uncomfortable in crowds, myself. Generally speaking."

"'Generally'?" asked Elsie. "What are the exceptions?"

Lara chewed her lower lip.

"I…"

"Oh come on," said Elsie. "Out with it." It might have been her imagination, but Lara seemed to turn a slight reddish hue.

"I do have a tendency to loosen up a bit when I've had a few too many," said the brunette. "Pretty much the only time you'll see me at the bar scene, really…"

"I'd pay big money to see that," said Elsie. "You seem so…'proper'."

"Oh, hush."

"No really," continued the blonde.

"So what do you come out here to recharge your batteries from?" Lara asked.

"Smooth segway," said Elsie.

"Thank you."

"You'll laugh, but…I do stunt doubling here and there," said Elsie. "It's my other passion, really."

"Stunts? As in for films?"

"Yeah," said Elsie. "Nothing major, mind you, small productions, mostly. Although," she smiled at one recollection, "I was Rohan Child Refugee #4 in The Two Towers when I visited New Zealand with my mom. So, there's that. Got my picture taken with Aragorn."

"Really?"

"Yeah…you meet the most amazing people, Lara, and you learn so much…but it's not steady work," said the blonde. "Some weeks you can be swamped and then go months with barely anything."

"I take it that's why you drive Old Bestie?"

"The Old Girl," corrected Elsie.

"The Old Girl, sorry," amended Lara.

"No, I just like her," said Elsie. "I could buy a decent second hand car if I wanted, I just like things to have a little character. Anyway, I make more at the book shop – that's my day job - than I ever would doing stunts. They complement each other pretty well, actually…but it's a lot of hours taken together."

"Book shop?"

"I work at a rare book gallery in Portland," said Elsie, noting a sudden rise in Lara's eyebrows. "It's nice enough, and I'm lucky to have the best boss in the world. And sometimes, I get to…um…what?"

Lara blinked. "I didn't say anything."

"No," said Elsie. "But you look like you're about to eat me. What gives?"

Lara's expression changed to one of sheepishness. "Sorry," she said. "Just that…rare books…"

"I take it you read a lot?"

"Only to excess," affirmed Lara.

"Wow," said Elsie. "I could so totally match you up with some doozies…"

"Just…how rare are we talking about?" asked the brunette.

"Well," said Elsie, a sparkle in her eye, "I take it you're heard of the Gutenberg Bible?"

"You're fibbing," said Lara.

"Am not," countered Elsie, grinning. "We sometimes make swaps and get loans from other collections and donors and such…anyway a couple of years ago we had an honest-to-goodness Gutenberg Bible for three months. Complete vellum edition. I got to hold it in my hands, Lara."

Lara's eyes widened. "You held it in your _hands_?"

"Yeah, it was…"

Lara's expression was one of abject horror.

"I did wear gloves, you know."

"Oh," said Lara, relieved. "That's…that's good, then."

Elsie slowly shook her head. "I'm not a complete barbarian," she teased. "I occasionally use utensils, too."

"I apologize," interjected Lara, her eyes wide with anticipation. "But…what did it feel like?"

Elsie mulled over the question.

"Heavy," she finally said.

Lara tilted her head.

"And amazing…I mean, I kinda get where you archaeologist types get your thrills when I hold something like that," continued Elsie. "You can almost feel the history seeping out of the pages, you know?"

Lara swallowed hard.

"Down, girl," said Elsie. "Might want to wipe up that drool…"

"Sorry," said Lara breathlessly.

"God, you're such a bookworm, aren't you?"

"Sorry," repeated Lara. "It's just that…Gutenberg Bible, my God…."

"How about Magna Carta?" said the blonde.

Lara's eyes looked like they were about to pop from their sockets.

"Kidding!" blurted out Elsie. "Just kidding…we don't have a Magna Carta…"

Lara punched her in the shoulder. Elsie laughed.

"Seriously though…we've been trying to get one on loan the last couple of years," she continued. "I'll call you if we ever manage it, how's that?"

"That would be…lovely," said Lara.

"Anyway, what were _you_ doing out here?" asked Elsie. "I can't imagine much worth excavating in northwestern Maine?"

"It's…a bit complicated," said Lara. "I was part of – "

Lara stopped.

"Part of what?" asked Elsie. Then she heard it: very faint at first, but gradually growing louder. A sound which seemed out of place in the isolated wilderness of northwestern Maine. And even more so at night.

The familiar thumping whirl of a helicopter.


	7. Chapter 7

Lara looked up. "That's not a search party," she said.

Elsie shook her head. "I'm not due back till tomorrow," she confirmed.

The thumping seemed to alternately grow fainter and louder by turns; the mysterious aircraft was flying in a zigzag pattern.

For a few minutes Elsie thought it might be leaving, only to have the thumping gradually grow ominously nearer.

"It's them," said Lara, her breathing quickening. "Trinity. Or whoever killed Professor Beacham."

"Who's Professor Beacham?"

"No time now," said Lara. "Get your things, Elsie."

"But it's dark out," remarked the blonde. "They can't see us from up there – can they?"

Lara scrambled out of the sleeping bag and unzipped the tent flap. "Helicopter flying at night," she said. "What do you think?"

Elsie's eyes widened. "Infrared!"

Lara nodded.

The thumping was very close now. Elsie pushed her palm against the tent fabric. "Can they see through this?"

Lara nodded. "Easily. _Shit!_ "

Elsie grabbed her pack and quickly strapped it on.

"We have to move!" exclaimed the brunette.

The two young women exited the tent. The helicopter's whirling blades were now deafening, the wind churned up by the backwash causing small branches in the upper canopy to bend and snap. But try as she might, Elsie could not see the chopper: it exhibited no visible navigation lights. But it was now clearly somewhere overhead.

 _This is some serious Black Ops shit_ , thought the blonde.

Lara grasped the rifle and an extra ammunition clip.

"THEY CAN'T LAND HERE, CAN THEY?" yelled Elsie. "THE WOODS – "

She was interrupted by something soft striking her head from above, letting out a surprised yelp as it slid down onto her shoulders. She jumped back, throwing off the unexpected intruder. But the material had a familiar feel to it.

 _Zip line!_

"LARA, THEY'RE COMING DOWN!"

"GO!" yelled the brunette, grabbing Elsie's hand as the two plunged into the darkness.

Their familiarity with the terrain ended twenty yards from the tent. Lara was the first to stumble over an unseen rock, Elsie barely keeping staying on her feet as she followed behind.

They ran as fast as could be managed, stumbling and falling constantly as they tried to navigate their way blindly through the woods. Elsie knew however was making their way down from the helicopter was almost certain to have night vision equipment, thereby allowing them to make faster progress: so long as conditions remained unchanged, she and Lara were at a severe disadvantage. The waxing Moon was almost directly overhead, casting endless fractured shadows around them so that everything looked like a grey-black kaleidoscope, making depth perception difficult.

Elsie could hear the helicopter pulling up; whoever had been coming down the zip lines were now doubtlessly on the ground. Lara stopped abruptly, Elsie almost careening into her. The brunette was looking up in the sky, having also detected the change in the helicopter's engine pitch.

Elsie followed her gaze and witnesses the sinister form of the helicopter coming toward them, from this angle perfectly silhouetted against the silver-gray Moon. Lara shouldered her submachinegun and fired, emptying her entire clip into the looming shape. For a moment Elsie thought she'd missed, until the machine began to careen awkwardly sideways and rapidly lose altitude.

"GO!" yelled Lara, and the two took off running.

Elsie felt more than heard the tremendous crash of metal among trees only yards behind them, their surroundings briefly illuminated by large ball of flame rising into the sky. She hoped the helicopter had either crashed atop their pursuers or had at least bought them a few seconds in the ensuing chaos.

As she ran she received a painful whip to the face by a tree branch swinging backwards.

"Sorry!" said Lara ahead, breathless.

They continued for what seemed like several hundred yards, tripping, scratching and gouging themselves constantly. Elsie began to fear the woods themselves would be their ultimate executioner – they couldn't keep moving at this pace much longer. Something had to give.

Moments later Lara stumbled and fell across a fallen log festered with several snapped and protruding branches, yelling out in pain. Elsie couldn't stop in time, falling over her friend and pushing her further down. Lara screamed.

"SHIT!"

Elsie quickly rolled off the brunette in a panic. In the dappled moonlight she could see Lara brace her hands against the fallen trunk, crying out in agony as she slowly pushed off.

"Lara, oh my God!" exclaimed Elsie in horror, just as a tiny glowing red dot appeared on the small of the brunette's back. The blonde quickly pulled her sideways, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

"Go!" said the brunette through clenched teeth. This time Elsie led the way, taking Lara's hand and making their way further through the brush. In their desperate circumstances she had no way of knowing what direction they were going – for all she knew, they were heading back in the direction of her original camp. But there was no time to get her bearings.

Her forehead struck a large, unyielding branch, nearly knocking her senseless; she stumbled forward and ducked, pulling Lara's hand down as she went in the hopes the brunette would follow her lead.

Lara was gasping: the injury she'd suffered was serious.

Elsie's foot suddenly came down on nothing. She fell forward, inadvertently dragging Lara behind her.

They tumbled violently down a steep incline, the saplings, rocky outcrops and thorn bushes combining to make the fall an especially painful one, tearing both clothes and skin indiscriminately. They continued tumbling, Elsie bracing herself for the sudden painful stop that she knew must be awaiting them momentarily.

Instead, she felt the slope gradually decrease, their rolling thankfully slowing, until she suddenly felt herself slipping over a ledge. She reached out in desperation and managed to grab hold of a young sapling just before she completely tumbled over. She flailed her legs wildly in a desperate attempt to get some footing, finding none.

"Elsie," she heard Lara gasping painfully somewhere above. "Where are you?"

"Here!" cried out the blonde, her panic growing exponentially as she felt the sapling start to slowly uproot. She flailed out with her other hand, finding no other point of anchor. She screamed as the sapling gave up the ghost, and she fell. Then just as quickly stopped.

Lara's hand had clasped painfully around her upper arm, but Elsie was now dangling completely over the ledge, with her pack further weighing her down.

She glanced down; she was hanging next to a vertical cliff face, the bottom an unknown distance below. She looked back up to see Lara's face painfully contorted in a desperate attempt to keep her from going over.

A droplet stuck Elsie's face. Again. And again. One of them trickled into her mouth – warm, thick and tasting faintly of copper. Blood.

Lara's.

Elsie felt the brunette slip, the young Englishwoman's grip compromised by the blood smearing both girls' skin. The blonde desperately tried to twist herself to unstrap her pack, to no avail – its 40 pounds were now a potential death sentence. Another slip, and her distance from the ledge increased another few inches.

Lara lurched forward and managed to grasp a strap of Elsie's pack with her other hand, but much of her own upper body was now dangling precariously over the edge.

She wasn't going to make it.

Elsie looked up at the brunette. "Lara," she breathed. "You can't do this…let go."

The young Englishwoman grimaced in pain and shook her head.

Lara took a deep breath and with a piercing cry pulled with every ounce of force her battered body could muster. Elsie suddenly felt herself rise several inches, the tips of her fingers once more touching the top of the escarpment. The strength exhibited by the brunette momentarily astonished her: Lara had absolutely no leverage, and was relying on muscle power alone.

"Can you…grab hold…" gasped Lara, arms shaking under the strain.

Elsie's fingers desperately tried to find a perch, to no avail.

A moment later Lara's grip on Elsie's pack slipped. The blonde dropped several inches, the brunette just managing to retain her grip on her wrist. But it was a losing battle; the force of Elsie's drop dragged Lara further over the edge.

"Please…" implored Elsie, raindrops of blood drizzling onto her face, "…don't do this…"

But Lara's grip didn't slacken; rather, it tightened, painfully. Elsie began to cry.

"Don't," she begged in desperation, her tears mingling with the brunette's blood. "Please, Lara…"

Another slip, and she was in free fall.

The wind clipped at Elsie's hair as she plunged noiselessly into the darkness below, Lara wrapping herself protectively around her.


	8. Chapter 8

They hit the water hard, the violence of the impact such that Elsie experienced a terrifying flashback of shattered glass and twisted metal. Only this time she found herself underwater, entwined in Lara's limbs and struggling for the surface, but in the utter blackness she couldn't tell where water ended and air began. Panic set in as she started to thrash about wildly.

She struck a boulder, by chance a glancing blow as the powerful current began to carry her along. Moments later she broke the surface, gasping desperately for air, the rushing water propelling her downriver at a frightening pace. She felt completely at the water's mercy: the current would not be denied. She glanced off several other rocks as she went, each one a painful jolt, but managed to avoid the worst of the impacts. She couldn't see Lara - the choppy rapids, lack of light and her own bobbing movements made searching impossible.

She continued downriver, the weight of her pack partly offset by it being waterproof, the trapped air inside providing at least some measure of buoyancy. The river began to calm, and at the bend a sandy shoal provided her with footing. She struggled to maintain her position against the current as she scoured the waters for her friend.

She saw her only moments later: floating face down in the water, slowly drifting towards her, with no hint of life.

"LARA!"

Elsie lobbed her pack to the bank and waded out, reaching the brunette just before she'd slipped beyond the bend. It was only with difficulty that she managed to haul both herself and the young Englishwoman back to the riverbank, collapsing in near exhaustion once Lara was safely out of the water. She shook the brunette.

"Lara? Lara talk to me," she demanded anxiously, eliciting no reaction. She slapped the girl on the cheek. "TALK TO ME!"

She placed her ear over Lara's mouth. The brunette wasn't breathing.

"SHIT!"

She drew herself up and began to press rapid compressions into the young woman's chest. When she'd reached thirty she tilted Lara's head back and pinched her nose, blowing two breaths into the brunette's mouth. She lay her ear over Lara's heart. No rise and fall.

Nothing.

"Oh no you don't," said Elsie, her anxiety multiplying tenfold as she shifted back to compressions.

…28…29…30.

Two more breaths into the girl's mouth. The brunette's form remained lifeless.

"FUCK!"

She repeated the process, laying her head against Lara's chest once more.  
The girl remained disturbingly still.

She redoubled her efforts to revive her friend, becoming increasingly frantic with every failed attempt.

"Don't you DARE fucking quit on me!" she barked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Another attempt. Another failure.

She pounded painfully on Lara's chest in desperation.

"DON'T YOU QUIT ON ME!" she screamed in near hysteria.

A gurgled cough.

Elsie's head popped up, her eyes wide.

She applied another compression. Water spouted from Lara's mouth.

"Ohmygod," exclaimed Elsie, hardly daring to hope; she rolled the brunette over on her side and applied a quick, sharp pressure on Lara's diaphragm.

The brunette's body convulsed, water spitting out from her mouth onto the sand. A moment later she drew in a ragged, gargling breath.

"Oh Lara…stay with me," said Elsie softly as she gently stroked Lara's hair. "Stay with me girl…"

A few moments later and Lara coughed again; she drew in another breath, less forced than the first. Then another.

She was breathing: shallow at first, but definitely alive.

Elsie flopped down next to her friend, exhausted. She draped an arm around Lara's waist, feeling the girl's chest rise and fall as her breathing slowly became more rhythmic.

 _Thank you_ , thought Elsie in intense gratitude to the Universe, burying her face in the nape of Lara's neck. _Thank you…thank you…thank you…_

She lay quietly next to the brunette, catching her breath, until she felt a trickling warmth against her forearm.

She jumped up. _Shit!_

Lara was still bleeding out. She grabbed her pack, rummaging for anything that might help staunch the flow. There was no more gauze, so grabbed a small hand towel as the packing material. She pulled out her spare shirt and tore it into strips. There was nothing else at hand - they would have to do.

She gently turned Lara onto her back, relieved that the movement didn't affect the young woman's breathing. In the faint moonlight Lara's tank top appeared to be soaked with so much blood she couldn't tell the wound's location. _Oh God…  
_  
She raised the brunette's top several inches and gasped at an ominous wound in the lower part of Lara's left ribcage, dangerously near to the spleen. Elsie shuddered. If the organ was punctured, the internal bleeding would be horrific – and Lara had already lost entirely too much blood. She had to move fast.

She folded the hand towel in four and packed it against the wound, wrapping the torn strips of cloth around Lara's slender torso to secure it in place. She feared it wouldn't be enough – but there was nothing better for the moment. She pulled Lara's tank top back into place.

She got to her feet, grasped the brunette under the shoulders and pulled her into the brush; there was no telling if their pursuers were nearby, and Elsie didn't like the idea of remaining in the moonlight on the exposed riverbank.

She dragged Lara to a secluded spot against a massive felled tree; she knew that the most immediate danger, following the young woman's near drowning, was pneumonia – she had to get her warm and dry somehow, and quickly.

She ran back and retrieved her pack; she pulled out her tiny portable burner, setting it next to the young Englishwoman. She was thankful she'd used natural flame to cook her meals over the past several days, which meant the burner's tiny butane reserve would be at full capacity – hopefully a few hours' worth of continuous burning.

She lit the stove and adjusted the flame until it was a faint bluish hue, satisfied the muted glow would be unlikely to give their position away. She lay down, positioned herself behind Lara and drew her thermal blanket over the both of them, wrapping her arm around the young woman's midsection to maintain pressure on the improvised bandage.

She would not sleep that night.

-oOo-

At dawn Elsie finally drew off from Lara, hopeful that the tiny stove combined with her own body warmth had gotten the brunette through the worst of the cold and dampness. She sat up, the faint light finally allowing her to take inventory of her own condition; she was covered in bruises and cuts, her jeans ruined and shirt torn in several places. But as dreadful as she looked, her stomach twisted painfully at the sight of her companion: the young woman had incurred further injuries: the lower right leg of her cargo pants had been virtually shredded down to the boot, her knee badly scraped, bruised and bloody. Her blood-soaked tank top was riddled with gashes, her arms and shoulders covered with numerous fresh scrapes and lacerations. The girl was being slowly flayed alive.

 _Death by a thousand cuts_ , lamented Elsie, her stomach twisting painfully.

She had to get active, change her mindset; she got up and walked to the riverbank, pulling her phone from her pocket.

 _Fried_ , she thought as water dripped from the casing, cursing herself for not having kept it in her pack.

She meandered along the shore, noting with relief the absence of footprints in the sand – wherever their pursuers were, they evidently hadn't made it down this way. Or perhaps they'd assumed their prey had perished in the fall.

 _Not an unreasonable assumption_ , thought Elsie dryly.

Or perhaps they'd cast their net out too wide, not realizing the two had remained in the immediate area. Whatever the case, Elsie determined they were going to have to stay put for the time being, at least until Lara recovered sufficiently.

She was setting out hooks in the shallow part of the river when Elsie heard the young woman call out to her. She spun around, relieved to see the brunette sitting up, though looking pale and unsteady.

She ran over crouched next to her friend, gently tucking a few stray brown locks behind her ear. "Hey sleepyhead," she said, smiling at her. "How are we feeling?"

"I've been…better," said Lara. She closed her eyes and swallowed; for a moment Elsie thought she was going to be sick.

She squeezed Lara's hand comfortingly. "You lost a lot of blood, Lara…again…you really have to knock that off…"

The brunette slowly opened her eyes. Seeming to stabilize herself, she gazed about her surroundings.

"I take it…they didn't find us…?"

Elsie proceeded to fill Lara in on their situation; Lara slowly nodded, and after a moment struggled to get to her feet.

"Whoa," said Elsie, offering a steadying hand as Lara swayed slightly. "Don't you think you should rest up a bit? You're in no condition to – "

"We have to get moving, Elsie," said Lara, looking ashen. "I have to warn the others…every day we delay…"

"Warn who?" asked the blonde.

"It's…"

"Complicated," finished Elsie. "Yeah, I kinda gathered that."

With that, and despite Elsie's reservations, the two women set out once more.

-oOo-

By dusk they'd found a well-sheltered rocky outcrop under which to make camp, the natural formation offering at least partial compensation for the loss of their tent, especially given the overcast skies. Elsie made a bed of hemlock branches to provide some insulation from the ground.

By now the two young women were ravenous and had helped themselves to some of the nuts, berries and crabapples from Elsie's pack. Lara, amazingly, seemed to have recovered some of her energy through the day, the wound in her upper abdomen, though terrifying, had thankfully not thus far proved life-threatening. But Elsie worried another encounter like the previous night would finish her.

"We can't," said Lara as Elsie returned with an armful of deadwood she'd collected. "We don't dare risk a fire, not with those people out there…"

The blonde froze, standing there unmoving, staring down at Lara with an unfathomable expression.

"Elsie?" asked Lara. "You okay?"

"Yeah," said the blonde finally. "Yeah, sure…no you're right…"

Elsie dropped her kindling and slipped under the thermal blanket with the brunette.

"I don't think they're the types to just give up, Elsie," said Lara. "I'm sorry."

"Those Trinity people?" asked the blonde.

"I think so," said Lara. "They didn't exactly introduce themselves…but their methods are consistent, at least. But they shouldn't be here. Why would a cult associated with the island of Yamatai be remotely interested in this? None of it makes sense."

"Why?" asked Elsie. "Interested in what? Who's Professor Beacham?"

Lara gazed at her contemplatively, chewing her lower lip.

"This could be dangerous, Elsie," said Lara softly. "They tortured Beacham to death for what I'm about to tell you."

"Dangerous, huh?" said the blonde. "I'd never have guessed."

Lara smiled faintly. "Fair point," she said.

"Well then…"

Lara took a deep breath. "It started a couple of years ago," she began. "I was doing some pretty intensive research about the Roanoke Colony…something my father had mentioned in his journal…"

Elsie perched her head up on her wrist. "I've heard of that. The bunch that disappeared, right?"

"The same," affirmed Lara. "But technically, it doesn't really have anything to do with this site…or it shouldn't, anyway…"

"Way to start a story, Lara," said Elsie. "We're off the rails already."

"Let me finish," countered the brunette. "There is an indirect connection: Professor Beacham was one of the foremost authorities on the Roanoke Colony, so I contacted him to see if he could provide some insight, something I might've missed…"

"And?"

"Nothing I really found useful," said Lara. "But he did bring up a topic that intrigued me. A couple of years ago he'd come into the possession of the private journals of Robert Fulstrom, now I realize he's not exactly a household name – "

"Uh huh."

" – but he was something of a maverick archaeologist back in the sixties and seventies, always going on about how there had been trans-oceanic contact long before even the earliest Viking expeditions…the scientific community ridiculed him of course, but he never wavered in his views…which, eventually, was the ruin of him."

"For being a non-conformist," said Elsie. "How nice of them."

"But that's just it, Elsie," continued Lara, her brown eyes gleaming. "He was right."

"He was?"

Lara nodded. "He'd made a discovery in the late sixties, not far from here…but since he'd been ostracized, he'd been consistently refused any assistance to conduct a proper investigation. So he went it alone for almost two years, after which he'd spent himself into bankruptcy. He shut it down, turned his back on archaeology forever."

"What kind of discovery are we talking about?" asked Elsie, intrigued.

"It's…incredible, Elsie," said Lara, her voice taking on an excited inflection. "He found the remains of an absolutely authentic European iron-age settlement, right here in Northern Maine."

"Iron age?" asked the blonde. "As in, before the Vikings?"

"Centuries before," said Lara, nodding. "Anywhere from 500 BCE to 500 AD, we haven't had a chance to properly date any of the finds yet…it's incredible, Elsie. It just shouldn't be here…but there it is."

"Hang on," said Elsie, "Wasn't there a legend of some Irish monk that supposedly crossed the Atlantic at some point, ages ago?"

"St. Brendan, yes," said Lara. "But he died in the late sixth century. And at any rate it's still much too early to make any sort of link to him specifically."

"Fair enough," said Elsie. "So…this Fulstrom character, is he still around?"

"Sadly not," said Lara. "He died about a decade later, a broken man. But he was right, Elsie. He was absolutely right. And as it turns out, his discovery might only be the tip of the iceberg."

"How do you mean?"

"We found Ogham stones, Elsie," continued the brunette excitedly. "Here. In the New World. In completely secure archaeological contexts. It's…"

"Okay, you just lost me," said the blonde.

"Some people call Ogham the Celtic Tree Alphabet," said Lara. "Or variations thereof. Anyway, it's the earliest known form of writing in Ireland…and if what they say is true…it's…"

"What?" blurted Elsie.

Lara pressed on: "…they make reference to a chain of settlements or outposts running from the coast to somewhere in the interior, and…they speak of a group of people coming here to safeguard something."

"Safeguard? As in treasure? Artifacts?" asked Elsie, captivated.

Lara slowly shook her head. "I've no idea," she said. "The inscriptions we've found so far don't go into that much detail. But it had to have been of incredible importance for them to undertake such a journey…"

"Okay, I know I'm just a layman, Lara," said Elsie. "But this sounds big."

"It's the Bee's Knees, Elsie," said Lara breathlessly. "This is history changing…Iron Age settlements in the Americas…Dog's Bollocks!"

Elsie grinned at her.

"What?" asked the brunette.

"Sorry, it's just you're so freaking adorable when you talk about something you're passionate about," said the blonde. "Even your voice…you sound like an excited thirteen year-old, I love it..."

Lara looked embarrassed. "I suppose I get a little…enthusiastic…"

"You know, should totally narrate a documentary about this," said Elsie.

"Oh, not you too," said Lara, rolling her eyes.

"What?"

"My friend Sam had the same idea," said the brunette. "She was going to bring a crew in to film once the dig was further along, but…I'm not comfortable in front of the cameras, Elsie…"

"But you wouldn't be," countered the blonde. "Narration, remember? And you totally have the voice for it."

Lara brushed a stray lock from her eyes. "Why, because I'm English?"

Elsie smiled. "Well, we yanks do have a love affair with those sophisticated British accents, you know."

"Fine, we'll get David Attenborough, then," said Lara dryly.

"I think he'd be expensive," countered Elsie. "Anyway, doesn't he do nature documentaries?"

"Well, I'm not narrating," insisted Lara.

"Oh, come on," lamented the blonde. "That gorgeous voice wasted."

"I…"

"Lightbulb!" exclaimed Elsie, her grey eyes beaming. "Tony Robinson!"

"What, Time Team?"

"He'd be perfect!" said Elsie. "And bonus, he's an archaeology nut, I bet he'd do it for free."

Lara pondered. "That's…interesting, actually…"

"Well if you're still dead-set against doing it, he'd be my pick," reaffirmed the blonde.

Lara sighed. "But we're getting ahead of ourselves," she said tiredly. "There's so much more at stake now, Elsie…"

The blonde moved closer. "In what way? What happened out there, Lara?"

"That site's as much a murder scene as an archaeological dig now," said the brunette darkly.

"Beacham?" asked the blonde.

Lara nodded, her expression somber. "And the others," she said. "Four people paid with their lives, Elsie."

"Holy shit."

"Indeed."

"Those men?" asked Elsie.

Lara nodded. "They showed up at the dig site four days after we'd arrived, demanded we turn over the stones…there's no way they could've known about those. How could they?"

"Maybe word got around?"

Lara shook her head. "I don't see how," she said. "One of Professor Beacham's conditions for financing the dig was absolute secrecy, at least until we'd gathered enough proof that couldn't be refuted by the scientific community. Only the team members knew the location of the dig. And anyway, we didn't even locate the stones until we were on site."

"Did they find them?" the blonde asked, "The stones I mean?"

"Fortunately not," said Lara. "But they tortured Beacham to death in the attempt …he'd sent them to a laboratory in Boston for further analysis and cataloguing the day before …but he never game them anything. But I don't think it's the stones themselves they're interested in, Elsie…"

"More what they point to," concluded the blonde.

Lara nodded. "I think that's a safe assumption."

"But you got away," remarked Elsie.

Lara nodded slowly. "That didn't make sense, either."

"What do you mean?"

"That night Beacham died someone cut my bounds," continued Lara. "I couldn't see who…at the time I was more worried about escaping…did one of those men have a conscience, Elsie? Even after killing those people?"

The blonde's eyes widened. "That's when I found you, wasn't it?"

"Yes," said Lara. "I knew they would come after me the moment they'd saw I was missing, and…I got reckless."

"No kidding," said Elsie, recalling Lara's bloodied body hanging limply on the rock ledge, the memory of which still sent shudders through the girl.

"I have to contact Sam," continued Lara. "Get her to warn the others, someone isn't what they appear to be. Then we have to bring in the authorities, hopefully before those men disappear off the face of the Earth."

Elsie was pensive.

"Millennium Falcon," she muttered softly.

"I'm sorry?" said Lara.

Elsie looked at her. "You know, it just a hunch, but…"

Lara blinked. "What? Elsie if you have some idea – "

Elsie drew herself up into a sitting position. "Empty your pockets," she said.

"My pockets?"

"Just humour me," she said.

Lara hesitated for a moment, then emptied out the contents of her cargo pants. "What are you looking for, exactly?"

Elsie caught a faint metallic reflection within the small collection of objects Lara had placed before her. She picked it up: a small, coin-sized cylinder about the thickness of three quarters. She held it up before the brunette.

"Recognize this?"

Lara leaned forward and frowned. "That's not mine," she said. "I've never seen that before."

"I'll bet my Harley Quinn statue this is a GPS transmitter," she said. "They've been tracking you."

Lara's face turned pale.

"Whoever cut those ropes didn't do it out of the goodness of their hearts, Lara," said Elsie ominously. "They were hoping you'd lead them to those stones." 


	9. Chapter 9

The two young women stared at the tiny cylinder in Elsie's palm.

"They know we're here," said Lara chillingly.

"Maybe not," said Elsie. Retrieving her pocketknife, she pried the top half of the cylinder off the device.

She flipped it upside down, water dripping from its innards.

"Fried," she said with relief.

Lara snatched the device from Elsie's hand, threw it to the ground and proceeded to stomp on it violently with the heel of her boot. Twice.

"Satisfied?" asked Elsie as Lara flopped back onto the hemlock bedding.

"Yes," said the brunette.

"I'd wager that's why they came in that chopper," said the blonde as Lara shimmied back under the blanket. "When we made camp midday, they must've thought we were retrieving something…"

"Gods I'm such a daft cow," said Lara in frustration. "I should've sensed something was off…"

Elsie reached over and lightly tapped the bluish bruise on Lara's forehead. "I think that might have something to do with it."

Lara sighed, looking crestfallen despite the blonde's reassurance.

"Anyway, tell me about these stones," prodded Elsie. "How many are there?"

"As of now, we found six," said Lara, the topic of archaeology seeming to revive the young woman's spirits slightly. "But we'd barely excavated a small portion of the settlement, there could be more still lying in situ. Preliminary Geophys indicated at least a dozen structures…"

"This Ogham language," prodded Elsie. "Why do they call it the 'Tree Alphabet'?"

Lara looked at her. "It's a unique language, Elsie," she explained. "With a lettering system unlike any other…it's called that as it was literally based on trees, both in the shapes of the characters and what each character symbolized. It's theorized it was designed in such a way as to be indecipherable to those from the Roman world."

"Can you read it?"

The brunette shook her head. "Not really, a few words," she said. "My expertise is Asian Studies…but one of our team was very well versed…fortunately he was able to translate the ones we'd found before…"

"Yeah," said Elsie, understanding. "I get it…"

Lara looked at her watch.

"Anyway, we should get some sleep," she said. "I have a feeling we're going to need it."

Elsie swallowed, the notion of slumber discomforting despite her intense fatigue.

"Goodnight, Elsie," said the young Englishwoman as she lay her head down on the improvised hemlock mattress.

Elsie suddenly felt cold.

"Lara – "

The brunette's head popped up, something in the blonde's slightly choked voice catching her notice.

"Elsie?" she asked. "You okay?"

The blonde fought almost overwhelming urge to beg Lara to allow her to build a fire, risks be dammed.

"I…no, it's nothing…"

"It's obviously not 'nothing', Elsie," said the brunette. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," said the blonde. "I'm just…being silly."

A look of realization came over the brunette. "Oh…" she said softly. "We left it back there, didn't we? Your night light…"

"I'll survive," said the blonde, not entirely convinced of her own words. "I told you it wasn't rational."

Lara's gazed at her with concern. "I'm sorry, Elsie," she said. "I completely forgot…if there wasn't such a risk I'd build a fire right now – "

"It's okay," said Elsie unconvincingly.

Lara bit her lip.

"When I was little my mother would remind me of something whenever I had trouble sleeping," she began, "She'd say there's nothing in the dark that's not there in the light. It helped."

Elsie turned over, her gaze fixed on the last vestiges of greyish light on the cloudy horizon.

"Sometimes there really are monsters under the bed, Lara," she whispered.

-oOo-

Lara woke in the middle of the night; she listened in silence, her ears detecting nothing out of the ordinary. But something felt out of place.

She raised her head slowly. An owl hooted in the distance. Faint moonlight filtered piecemeal through breaks in the clouds.

She reached out; Elsie wasn't under the blanket.

"Elsie?" she whispered. "Are you there?"

Silence.

She sat up in alarm, ignoring the resulting throbbing in her head.

"Elsie?" she said, louder.

"I'm here, Lara," said the blonde softly. "It's okay. Go back to sleep."

Lara's eyes adjusted to the near total darkness; she recognized Elsie's form sitting up a few feet away, her back to the brunette.

"What are you doing?" asked Lara.

"Nothing," said Elsie. "It's fine."

Lara sat there, staring at the blonde in stupefaction. She couldn't escape the feeling that something had once traumatized the girl, and had stayed with her to this day. Whatever it was, she clearly associated it with the dark.

 _Monsters under the bed…_

She reached for Elsie's pack, rummaging through its contents until her fingers found what they were looking for.

She pulled out the flashlight and turned it on.

Elsie spun around, her grey eyes wide. "What are you doing?"

Lara shuffled over until she was sitting before the blonde.

"Elsie," said the brunette, "Is there something you'd like to talk about?"

Elsie shook her head. "Lara, that light," she said urgently, "If they're in the area – "

"Then they can get stuffed," said the Englishwoman.

"But…the battery – "

"What happened?"

Elsie visibly stiffened.

"And don't tell me 'nothing'," warned Lara.

The blonde gazed at her, sporting that same unfathomable expression the brunette had seen briefly a few hours previously.

"It will do you good to talk about it, you know," said Lara.

"I can't," whispered the blonde, shaking her head.

"Why?" asked Lara.

Elsie looked distinctly uncomfortable, a sight that both surprised and moved the Englishwoman – she'd known the girl just a few days, but she'd seemed so forthright, a free spirit that would seem unlikely to harbour dark secrets –

Then she recalled something the blonde had mentioned two days previously.

 _We're gonna need walk-in closets for all our skeletons…_

"Elsie," said Lara gently, "Does this have anything to do with your friend?"

Elsie slowly shook her head. There was no deceit in the girl's eyes.

"Then what?"

"Lara," she whispered, "Please understand…no one knows…not even Mom…please don't ask me…"

Lara moved closer. "What happened to you? Why can't you sleep in the dark?"

Elsie closed her mouth.

Lara was at a loss. What could've happened to this girl to affect her so? She'd been completely open about a tragedy involving her best friend, and yet…

Then it hit her. A recollection that set alarm bells ringing painfully in her head.

 _My father…was an absolute bastard. Leaving was the only good thing he ever did._

A column of ice enveloped Lara's spine, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

 _Dear God…please don't let it be that…_

"Elsie," she said in a whisper, "Please tell me it's not what I'm thinking…"

The blonde's eyes started to glisten.

Lara visualized Elsie as a child, in her bed at night…the door opening…

"Elsie…did he…"

The blonde's lower lip was quivering.

 _No_ …

It was as she'd dreaded.

"My God, Elsie…"

"You can never say a word of this, Lara," whispered the blonde, her voice strained.

"But your mother," said Lara, her rage bubbling up inside to murderous levels. "Elsie, you have to tell her – "

"No," said Elsie firmly. "She's the last person who can ever know…"

"But _why?_ "

Elsie swallowed deeply. "You don't understand," she whispered.

"Then make me," asked Lara, her voice laced with emotion. "Because I will find that bastard and kill – "

"No!" cried Elsie. She was breathing heavily.

Lara was trembling with fury.

"Lara….it was worse for her," said Elsie haltingly.

"How could it be _worse_?"

Elsie's shoulders sagged. The girl could not look more defeated.

"She…was a battered wife, Lara," she said in a tiny voice. "For a long time…"

Lara's mind burned with images of drawing and quartering.

 _No_ , she thought, _that would be too good for the snake…_

"When I was nine," continued Elsie painfully, "I ran to the neighbours…they tried to intervene, but…"

She was barely keeping herself together. Lara took Elsie's hand in hers.

"…I made it worse, Lara," she squeaked. "He beat her to within an inch of her life…"

She drew her legs up and buried her face in her knees, shoulders shaking.

Lara wrapped her arms around the girl, pressing her cheek to the back of Elsie's neck.

"Elsie….I'm so sorry…"

"I hated him so much," she sobbed.

Lara continued to hug the girl, her own tears mixing with the blonde's.

"Elsie," she continued hesitatingly, "Why keep what he did to you a secret? Please help me understand…"

The blonde slowly drew up, eyes red and cheeks glistening. "Because she blamed herself, Lara," she choked. "She blamed herself for years…she thought she was an unfit wife…"

"But…"

"…and I knew that if I told her what he'd done to me….she'd blame herself for that too…"

"Dear God, Elsie…"

The blonde rubbed her eyes in a futile attempt to stem the tears.

"She went into such a terrible depression, Lara," she said, slowly shaking her head. "I thought I was going to lose her…"

Lara bit her lip so hard she drew blood.

"…only over the last couple of years has she been able to start living again," said Elsie, her voice hoarse. "And I won't ever do anything to plunge her into that darkness again…ever."

"I think…I understand now, Elsie," said the brunette, feeling as though her insides were going to burst.

"So you see, Lara," said Elsie tearfully with thoroughly unconvincing fortitude, "That's why I take issue with people blaming themselves for shit…"

Lara's stomach twisted. Glistening brown eyes bored into grey ones.

She pulled the blonde to her, cradling the girl in her arms as Elsie wrapped her legs around Lara's waist.

The two wounded souls wept into each other long into the night.


	10. Chapter 10

Dawn saw the two young women chance a small fire. Elsie simmered a pair of whitefish filets in a pan: it would be their first warm meal in two days, and they desperately needed the energy.

The blonde was exhausted; the reflection gazing back at her from the stream earlier that morning had exhibited dark shadows under reddened eyes.

 _D'uh…two days without sleep will do that, Else…_

Lara had curled up with the blonde throughout the night in an effort to alleviate her anxiety, and although Elsie had been deeply moved by the brunette's concern, the reality was that her deep-rooted nightmares would never be so easily banished.

"What are you going to do when this is all over, Lara?" asked Elsie as she checked the underside of the filets. "Back to London, I guess?"

Lara paused from shredding fiddleheads into a cup. "In the short term, yes," she said. "After that, it's hard to say…wherever the journey takes me, I imagine…"

The blonde experienced a sharp pang in her stomach; of course, she'd known her new friend would quickly go back to her globetrotting life, but there was no denying what she was feeling.

The brunette looked at her, her brown eyes reflecting awareness.

"I will miss you, Elsie," said Lara softly. "I truly mean that."

The blonde smiled sadly.

Lara bit her lip.

"But that doesn't mean we'll never – "

"It's okay, Lara," said Elsie, smiling. "Really…your life is out there, I know that."

The brunette opened her mouth and closed it again. There would be no false platitudes here.

Elsie knew she would never see her friend again.

And it pained her more than she thought it could.

-oOo-

It was midafternoon when they first discerned the first faint sounds of civilization they'd experienced in days: a distant rumbling to the northwest, the source of which perplexed the young women.

"What is that…construction equipment?" mulled Lara.

"I'm thinking loggers?" offered Elsie. "We must be across the border by now…"

The brunette seemed hesitant.

"What's wrong?" asked Elsie, moving close. "Still worried about those Trinity types?"

Lara slowly shook her head. "I don't know," she said. "Bugger this…I should've taken the time to make a bow…"

"Doesn't seem their style to be making that much racket though, does it?" said the blonde.

Lara thought. "No," she finally admitted. "They generally wouldn't announce their presence so blatantly…"

They continued through the woods, the sounds getting louder and more distinct as they approached.

 _Definitely heavy machinery of some kind_ , thought Lara, the gurgle and roar of massive engines filling the woods.

They then heard it: what sounded alarmingly like a rifle shot.

Elsie froze. She looked back to Lara.

"…backfire…?" she suggested hopefully.

Then came another. And another.

Then a sound that could not be mistaken for anything else: the disturbingly familiar buzz of a machine gun.

Several, in fact.

"Holy shit," said Elsie, as the cacophony of weapons continued to build.

The ground shook. An explosion.

Followed by an echoing blast that sounded for all the world as though it had erupted from a cannon.

They glanced up; smoke was drifting above the trees in the distance, the clatter of automatic fire continuing unabated.

"Son of a monkey, Lara," exclaimed Elsie, worried. "It sounds like World War 3 over there…"

Lara tensed. Something was clearly amiss – there was no mistaking the sound of pitched battle. But it couldn't be happening. Not here.

The blonde pressed forward.

"Elsie!" said Lara.

The blonde looked back. "They'll never hear us coming over all that hubbub," she said. "But we have to see what's going on, don't we?"

Lara chewed her lower lip, following despite her misgivings. The girl was right, of course – and what practical option did they have?

A few hundred yards further ahead the sounds became almost ear-splitting. The rumble of large engines, rifle and machinegun fire, explosions and apparent cannon shot filled the air, none of it making any sense to Lara.

The woods were beginning to thin out; they were coming on the edge of a clearing.

Smoke wafted through the air, Lara detecting the distinct scent of spent cordite.

Movement ahead. The two young women crouched in the bushes.

A massive form emerged from the smoke, making straight towards them, shaking the ground as it came. Elsie grabbed Lara's arm.

The tracked vehicle sprouted a long, protruding cannon; clearly some sort of tank, painted in a camouflage pattern of tan, brown and green, bluish-white smoke billowed up from the machine's exhausts.

It suddenly stopped; pivoted to the left, and rumbled off. On its side was painted a distinct black cross bordered in white.

Elsie spun to look at Lara. "Did you see _that_?"

"I did," echoed the brunette. "But that's…"

 _Impossible…_

"Laraaaaa…." said the blonde ominously.

The young Englishwoman hardly believe her own eyes; she'd been through situations that defied explanation before, but this…

More movement; human forms faintly visible through the smoke. All sporting serious-looking military equipment.

"Look at that one," exclaimed Elsie, pointing to a particular shape in their midst. "Is that a freaking bazooka?"

"This is so dodgy, Elsie," she said slowly. "I'd almost think it a dream, but…"

Elsie's grey eyes widened; her gaze directed back over Lara's shoulder.

"Was ist los, Fräulein?"

Lara spun around on her haunches.

 _It can't be…_

"I think you were one war off," said the brunette.

"My kingdom for a TARDIS," lamented the blonde.

There, standing behind them, was a heavily armed soldier wearing the dreaded spotted camouflage uniform of the Waffen-SS.


	11. Chapter 11

"Um…wiener schnitzel?" offered Elsie meekly.

The soldier looked them up and down.

"What are you guys supposed to be, exactly?" he said in surprisingly good English. "Refugees or something?"

Elsie looked to Lara.

"I…"

"And how'd you get in here, anyway?" he continued. "This area is for re-enactors only."

They heard someone call out behind them. The soldier waved over a man in a peaked cap and a German officer's uniform.

"What's going on?" asked the 'officer'.

"Got a couple of cosplayers here," said the soldier. "Don't ask me how they got past the cordon."

The 'officer' looked at them with unconcealed irritation. "How'd you get in here?" he demanded gruffly. "Don't you have any idea how dangerous it is for members of the public this close to the field? There are charges rigged all over, if you happened to be standing on one went it went off – "

"But we're not – " blurted Elsie.

" – and in case you haven't noticed, the tanks don't exactly have great visibility to the sides and rear – "

"We're not cosplayers!" repeated Elsie.

"Well why are you dressed like that, then?" asked the soldier, indicating their heavily bloodied, filthy and torn clothing.

"We're not 'dressed' like anything!" said Elsie hotly. "We've been stuck in the woods for days!"

The two men looked at each other.

"It's true," said Lara, moving closer. "We need to contact the authorities. Urgently."

"And she needs to get to a hospital!" said Elsie, grasping the brunette's arm. "She's badly injured!"

The soldier pointed at Lara. "You mean…that's not…fake blood?"

"NO!" shouted Elsie.

The man's legs buckled. He dropped to the ground in a heap.

"No wonder they lost the war," said the 'officer', rolling his eyes. "Come on, we'll get you looked at."

-oOo-

"Miss Croft?" said the doctor as he re-entered the room. "Are you going somewhere?"

Lara was tying up her bootlaces, having re-donned her battered clothing.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But there are urgent matters requiring my attention."

He remained standing before the door, blocking Lara's exit.

"Miss Croft," he repeated, "I would highly recommend against leaving just yet. I believe we treated your wound prior to serious infection setting in, but I'd feel safer if you'd remain under observation for a day or two – "

She moved for the door. "Please stand aside."

He pointed to her forehead. "And I'm concerned you may have suffered a concussion," he continued. "I'd like to run some tests – "

She moved closer to him, her eyes blazing. "Doctor…"

Battered though she was, Lara could still exude a threatening aura. He took a nervous half-step back.

Standoff.

"You can't keep me here against my will," asserted the brunette. "You and I both know that."

The man sighed, defeated. "Fine," he said, throwing his hands up. "I'll get your release. But for the record I think this is a mistake."

"I'll take that under advisement," said Lara dryly.

He opened the door and strode off into the hall, shaking his head.

In truth, she'd already called Sam – the wheels had been set in motion. The authorities had been notified, and there was nothing else required of Lara for the moment.

She wanted to check up on Elsie. Though she was reasonably satisfied the girl hadn't suffered any serious physical injury, she knew the traumatic experiences of the last several days would weigh on the girl.

She made her way down to the next examination room where the blonde had been getting treated; the door was still locked.

 _Bullocks._

"Where may I find Miss Trainor?"

Lara turned around. Down the hall near the nurse's station stood an imposingly tall elderly man with a neatly-trimmed white beard, smartly dressed in tweed jacket and bow tie. But aside from asking about Elsie, it was the man's voice that had drawn her attention: deep and commanding, and most definitely English.

 _Grandfather maybe? Hopefully on her mother's side…_

The nurse pointed down in Lara's direction. The man looked at her.

Lara fidgeted nervously. The man had a powerful air of authority about him, and as he made his way down the hall Lara became increasingly aware of just how tall the man was – a good head over Lara herself. Such details normally wouldn't have fazed Lara, but there was something about the man she found intimidating, almost dean-like. She suddenly felt like she was a truant wandering her old school halls.

The man's eyes never left her as he approached; he must have been in his seventies or even eighties, but walked with a smooth, purposeful stride; Lara's gaze flickered back and forth anxiously. She must no doubt have made quite a sight, with her bloodied top, dust-clad boots and shredded pants.

The man drew himself up before her, noting the door number.

"I take it Miss Trainor is within?" he asked, his voice even more forceful in the confines of the hall.

"She is," said Lara nervously. The man took note of her dialect.

"From the Old Country?" he asked.

"I am, yes," she said.

He nodded, looking back at the closed door.

He looked back to Lara. "I take it you were involved in the same escapade as Miss Trainor?"

"I was," confirmed Lara.

He gazed at her, seeming to analyze Lara with his piercing blue eyes.

He held out his hand.

"Nathan Fletcher," he said. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss…"

Lara gingerly shook the man's hand. "Croft, sir," she said. "Lara Croft."

The man's grey eyebrows frowned.

"Amelia Croft's daughter?" he asked.

Lara blinked. "I…yes," she stammered. "Sir…you knew my mother?"

"I did indeed," said Fletcher. "I had the pleasure of instructing Amelia for two years at Oxford."

Lara's heart suddenly surged. The man no longer seemed quite so intimidating.

"One of my more gifted students, as I recall," he said. "Though a tad…adventuresome."

"Yes, sir," said Lara. "That she was…"

The man looked contemplative.

"About twelve years ago, was it?" he asked.

Lara swallowed. "Yes," she said quietly.

He nodded. "Damned sad business, that," he said.

"It was," she said. "Thank you, sir."

"I was not aware you were an acquaintance of Miss Trainor's, Miss Croft," said Fletcher.

"Actually...I wasn't," said Lara. "We only met a few days ago."

"Indeed."

"But…I've come to consider her a friend," she said truthfully.

The man nodded again. "I see."

Lara looked at him. "Sir," she began, "might I ask what your relationship with Elsie is? I take it you're not a member of her family…"

He smiled at Lara, and for the first time Lara saw a glimpse of underlying warmth behind the man's imposing exterior.

"Forgive me," he said. "Miss Trainor works for me at the Paddington Gallery here in Portland."

"Oh," said Lara. "The books…"

Fletcher nodded.

Lara chewed her lower lip. "Sir," she began hesitatingly, "I know it's not my place, but I wonder if…could Elsie have a few days to settle herself? She's been through a lot – "

"As it happens, Miss Croft," said Fletcher, "That is precisely what I'd come here to suggest."

"Oh…thank you, sir. I truly appreciate that."

A buzz emanated from the man's jacket pocket. He pulled out a cell phone and silenced the call.

"Bloody contraptions," he said, slipping the phone back into his pocket. He looked at Lara. "I'm afraid I must be off, Miss Croft," he continued, "But if you would be so kind as to convey my instructions to Miss Trainor that she take as much time as is necessary to rest, I would be appreciative."

"Of course, sir. Thank you."

He held out his hand. Lara took it.

"A pleasure, Miss Croft," he said.

He turned to go.

"Sir – "

The man stopped and looked back at her.

"Yes, Miss Croft?"

She stepped forward. "I was wondering…you know Elsie much better than I…"

The man gazed at her expectantly.

Lara pressed on. "Is there…anything I could do for her? She's helped me a great deal…more than I can ever do to repay, in fact, but – "

The man's eyebrows raised slightly. "I make it a point not to meddle in my employees' private affairs, Miss Croft," he began. "But I will venture this: If she has helped you, then you have already given her all that she could have wished."

Lara blinked. "Sir?"

"It is her special nature," said the man. "I do not pretend to know her life story, Miss Croft, but I can tell you in that room is a young woman in pain. And she alleviates that anguish by aiding those she considers less fortunate than herself."

Lara stood there, unmoving as Nelson's Column.

"Yes, sir," she whispered.

Fletcher nodded. "Good day, Miss Croft."

He strode down the hall, and was gone.

Lara slowly sat down in one of the chairs lining the wall.

She bent over and buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking violently.


	12. Chapter 12

Lara looked about the room; it was snug, as were all the rooms in Elsie's tiny flat. The furniture was well-worn, invariably scratched and stubbornly unmatched to each other. A small desk against the far wall held Elsie's computer; an overly large stuffed chair sporting several mismatched patches dominated the near corner, an open book overturned on one of its armrests. The far wall backed a large bookcase which held books on a myriad subjects; Lara resisted the temptation to hunt for rare tomes.

Several further book stacks sprouted from the floor near to the overflowing bookcase. An overturned bicycle helmet next to the chair held a James P. Sullivan moppet, while a very old looking stuffed bear was perched on the windowsill overlooking the computer. In the far corner was a small pile of knee and elbow pads. Scattered throughout the room were various figurines of Harley Quinn though her various incarnations over the years.

The room was cluttered, but not exactly messy; Lara had the impression of someone who knew where everything was, and thus saw no great need to organize accordingly. There was an undeniable coziness about the place that radiated warmth.

Lara smiled to herself. Yes, it was a room well suited to its occupant.

Lara approached the desk and gazed at a framed photograph of a thirty-something woman holding a young blonde girl in her arms; she swallowed at the smiles in the photograph, knowing full well the suffering they masked.

"Sorry about that," called Elsie from the kitchenette, "I'm not really much of a tea drinker – "

"That's okay, Elsie," Lara called back. "We Brits are perfectly capable of drinking coffee, you know. Had to get used to it after your Tea Party."

"Well, you wouldn't allow us representation," countered Elsie. "Any cream or sugar?"

"Just cream please," said Lara.

Lara's gaze fell on a Winnie-the-Pooh clock on the far wall.

 _6:18._

She sighed; Sam would be here soon. She was impatient to get back to Boston. For one, the stones had to be secured. Two, she and Sam had to start digging up the background of everyone who knew about the dig. Of course the police would eventually do this by default, but Lara needed answers now, not in months.

And yet part of her was loathing the moment of departure she knew was rapidly approaching.

"Here you go," said Elsie, as she handed her a steaming cup of coffee in a green Slimer mug.

"Thank you," said Lara, taking the proffered cup. She nodded to one of the figurines. "I'm sensing you're a bit of a Harley fan…"

Elsie shrugged slightly, leaning back against her desk and cradling her cup. "A little, yeah," she said, smiling. "I just love her duality, you know?"

Lara smiled. "Yeah," she said knowingly. "I do, actually."

"And, well, Margot Robbie, my Gods…" said Elsie, feigning a faint.

Lara gazed at a large poster of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy gracing the wall opposite the bookcase. An odd serenity came over her, a sensation she'd long since almost forgotten, and that she suspected would go into hiding again once she'd left this place.

The entire place just somehow felt…right.

Elsie looked at her curiously, her head tilted to one side.

"Lara?"

"This is home for you, isn't it?" said Lara softly, more to herself.

"Well…sure…I thought I'd mentioned that? You okay?"

The brunette nodded slowly.

There would be others to help.

Elsie's expression was ironically one of concern.

"Hey…shilling for your thoughts?"

Lara smiled. She looked down at her reflection in the cup clasped in her hands.

"Elsie – "

The doorbell rang.

 _Shit._

Elsie's shoulders sagged.

"I guess…that's for you…" she said.

"I think so," said Lara, experiencing strangely simultaneous sensations of eagerness and reluctance.

She put her mug on the desk. She looked at Elsie and chewed her lip.

"You're gonna have to get that," said the blonde softly.

"I know," said Lara.

She drew close to Elsie. Placing her hands on her shoulders, she leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to the blonde's.

She slowly drew back, looking into her the young woman's grey eyes.

"Lara…" whispered Elsie.

"Thank you," whispered the brunette. "For everything."

The doorbell rang again.

Elsie swallowed deeply.

"Better answer that," she said, her voice trembling, "before she kicks the door down…"

Lara slowly drew off and made her way to the tiny landing.

She peered through the peephole and swung the door open.

"Lara!" said the young filmmaker as she threw herself at the brunette, the two of them embracing in the doorway.

"I was so worried," said Sam into Lara's ear. "When the hospital said you'd walked out – "

"It's okay," said Lara reassuringly. "It's mostly just the headaches now…"

Sam drew back, tracing the bluish skin on Lara's forehead.

"Gods, babe," she said worriedly. "That's not something to take chances with…"

"I'll get it looked at properly in London," offered Lara. "Deal?"

Sam nodded, knowing full well Lara's penchant for avoiding medical attention whenever possible. "Deal."

Lara felt a presence behind her. She drew off from Sam.

"Sam, this is Elsie," said Lara. "Elsie – "

Sam held out her hand. "Hey there," she said, smiling.

The blonde stood there, unmoving, grey eyes wide and mouth open.

"Um…"

"Elsie?" asked Lara. "Is everything – "

The blonde slowly raised her hand up to take Sam's, her unblinking eyes resolutely fixed on the Asian-American girl.

"Whoa," she finally whispered in a distinctly awestruck voice. She gave a side glance to Lara, her pale eyebrows rising. "'Asian Studies', huh?"

Sam burst out laughing.

Lara felt herself turn a slight reddish hue.

 _Good Lord…_

"I swear, Elsie," said Lara. "Sometimes I think you'd make Prince Philip blush…"

"Now THAT I'd love to see," said Sam. "Well…I'll wait in the car…it was really nice meeting you, Elsie."

"You too, Sam," said the blonde. "Take care of her…"

Sam glanced at Lara.

"I try," said Sam. Her gaze turned back to the blonde. "Thank you, Elsie."

With that the young filmmaker walked off to the rental.

Lara turned to the blonde.

"I guess…this is goodbye," she said.

Elsie nodded. "I guess it is," she echoed softly.

Lara's felt her emotions rising up. "Elsie…I wish – "

The blonde pressed her finger to Lara's lips. "I don't like long goodbyes," she whispered, her grey eyes swimming.

She wrapped her arms around the brunette and buried her face in the crook of her neck. Lara returned the embrace without hesitation.

"I won't forget you," whispered Lara, her tears wetting Elsie's cheek. "Ever."

Elsie was trembling. She pushed herself away, her eyes badly reddened and cheeks glittering with wetness.

"You'd best get going, Lara," she said, her voice tiny and quavering.

"Elsie…I…"

The blonde turned and ran back into her flat, closing the door behind her.

Lara's heart sunk.

She drifted back to the car; she opened the passenger door and looked back at Elsie's flat, hoping to catch one last sight of the blonde's face in the window.

There was no one.

She dropped down heavily into the passenger seat and closed the door.

Sam tilted her head and scrutinized the brunette.

"Everything all right?" she asked.

Lara stared straight ahead, not seeing.

"I hope so," she said quietly.

"Where'd she come from, anyway?" asked the filmmaker. "They just said the two of you had been in the woods since communication with the team got cut off…"

Lara thought back and allowed herself a slight smile.

"I don't know, Sam," she said, recalling the first time she'd seen the girl's grey eyes peering at her in concern through the tent flap. "She was just there…"

"Is she always…like that?"

"…direct as a torpedo?" finished Lara, her spirits rising slightly. "Yeah, she is…but she has a way of getting to the heart of the matter, Sam…"

"Well, I think she's freaking adorable," said the filmmaker.

Lara turned to her. "Do you?"

"Are you kidding?" said Sam as she turned the ignition. "I wanted to wrap her up and take her home."

Lara rested her head against the side window as the car drove off.

The unvoiced words would swim though her thoughts the entire drive back.

***END***


	13. Epilogue

The High Dragon threw Elsie's Rogue down to the ground in a bloody, lifeless heap.

The massive beast reared its scaly head and let out yet another triumphant roar.

"Oh, screw this!" exclaimed Elsie. "Freaking invincible dragons…"

She closed the program and sank back in her chair, regarding her computer monitor hotly.

 _I should really play something less aggravating...it's Christmas for God's sake…_

Normally this late in the evening the young blonde would be curled up with a good book, but she'd found it strangely difficult to concentrate of late - her mind kept drifting.

This was the first Christmas Eve she'd spent apart from her mother. Elsie had privately dreaded the notion of spending the holidays alone, but was tempered in the knowledge that her mother might have finally found happiness in her life. Howard couldn't be more different from her father, for which Elsie was infinitely grateful.

In truth, she could easily have chosen to spend Christmas with friends; Gellis had invited her to spend the night with her family, but she just couldn't bring herself to accept. Besides, her mother would be back from the Caribbean by mid-January; she'd still get to spend a few days with her.

In the meantime however, there was no denying she felt the pangs of loneliness. She once more found herself wondering if she should get a dog, or even a cat, before just as quickly dismissing it out of hand – the landlord would inevitably find out before long. Then would equally inevitably come the anguish of loss.

No, she would not go through that again.

The familiar drawl of Jimmy Stewart drifted in from the television in the living room. _Wonderful Life, indeed…_

She was restless.

 _Hot coco_ , she thought. _When you're feeling down, always turn to chocolate._

She went to the kitchen and poured milk in a saucepan. She was rummaging for the coco in the pantry when she heard the familiar IM chirp.

 _Mom?_

She ran back to the study and checked her phone.

Gellishi: Hey girl, sure u won't change your mind?

Elsie smiled.

HarleenQ: Ya, thx though sweets.

Gellishi: K, well Merry Xmas then!

HarleenQ: Merry Xmas 2u too

She tossed her phone onto her armchair. She'd just re-opened her pantry when the ring tone echoed down the hall. The Universe seemed bent on keeping Elsie from her coco.

"What now," she muttered to herself as she ran back.

She picked up her phone.

' _Unknown caller'. Okay, this better not be a survey…_

She thumbed the green icon.

"Hello?"

A female voice. "Hey."

"Um…hi," said Elsie. "Who's this?"

The voice hesitated.

"Hello?" repeated the blonde.

"It's Lara."

Elsie sat down heavily in the armchair.

"Lara?" she said, her heartbeat quickening. "Is…everything all right?"

An amused sniff. "Yes," said Lara. "Just…quiet."

"Then…I don't…"

"I thought…I'd check in on you," said the brunette.

Elsie flopped against the backrest, hardly believing her ears.

"Elsie?" asked Lara. "You there?"

"Yeah," she finally said faintly. "Yeah, I'm here, Lara…"

"Did I call at a bad time?" asked the brunette.

"No!" said Elsie. "No, it's just…unexpected, I guess."

A pause.

"I can't blame you for thinking that," said Lara softly.

Elsie drew in a ragged breath.

"Well…never mind that," she the blonde, "It's…really nice to hear your voice, Lara."

"It's really nice to hear yours too, Elsie," said the young Englishwoman.

The loneliness that had pestered the blonde suddenly faded.

"So are you…you and Sam having a nice Christmas?" She asked, trying to keep her voice from cracking.

"Well…actually," said Lara, "Sam's spending Christmas with her parents in Japan, so I'm on my own for now."

"On your own?" Repeated Elsie. "Lara, you must have some relatives you can spend the holidays with?"

Silence.

"Lara?"

"Not really, no," said the brunette. "I have an uncle, but...we don't really see eye to eye. A bit of a tosser, really."

"Lara, that sucks!"

"Winston's here though, so there's that."

Elsie blinked. "Who's Winston?"

"He's…the house butler," said Lara.

Elsie's pale eyebrows raised. "You and Sam have a butler?"

"No, we don't," said Lara promptly. "He manages my parents' estate. I'm spending Christmas here."

"He still works there, after all these years?" asked Elsie. "In an empty house?"

"…yes…"

Elsie gasped.

 _Oh, fuck…_

"Oh my God, Lara," she blurted, immediately conscious of what she'd said. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that – "

"I know, Elsie," said Lara. "It's fine."

"God I'm such a dweeb," lamented the Blonde.

"You are NOT a dweeb," said Lara firmly.

"It's just – you shouldn't be spending Christmas alone, Lara," said Elsie, "It's not...oh…crap."

"What?"

"Um…nothing."

"Well that was convincing," said Lara. "Out with it."

The blonde sighed. "Fine," she said resignedly. "As it happens, I'm in the same boat, so I guess I shouldn't be one to lecture."

"What about your mum?"

Elsie smiled. "Well, that's the one saving grace, Lara," she said. "Mom met someone a few months ago…he's really nice, lost his wife to cancer five years ago…mom's the first woman he's been with since then, actually…everything just feels so right…"

"Oh Elsie," said the brunette. "I'm so happy for her…"

"So am I, Lara," said Elsie, her voice raw. "They went on a trip to the Caribbean together, can you believe it? They'll be due back in a couple of weeks, then they'll spend a couple of days here before going back to Seattle…"

"That's lovely, Elsie," said Lara.

"It is," echoed the blonde. "It really is…"

"What about you?" asked the brunette. "What have you been up to?"

Elsie sighed. "Same old, really," she said. "Not that that's bad, mind you, though film stuff has been a bit thin lately. Tonight, well, just being a dragon's bitch, mostly…"

"Being…what?"

Elsie rubbed her forehead. "Sorry," said the blonde. "Just playing a game, trying to kill time…reading just wasn't cutting it tonight, you know?"

"I can understand that," said Lara.

"But hey," said Elsie. "How are things with you? Still globetrotting?"

Silence.

"Lara?"

"I…"

Elsie leaned forward.

"Lara, what's wrong?"

"I've…missed you, Elsie," said the brunette softly.

Elsie became oblivious to the distant babble from the television. She could feel her eyes welling up.

"Lara," she said, "That means so much to me, you have no idea..."

"I know I haven't been a very good friend," said Lara. "It's just that…you have to understand, with my life…"

"Lara, I know," said Elsie. "Don't ever apologize for that…"

The doorbell rang.

 _Shit!_

"I think you have company," said Lara.

 _No, no, no…_

"Whoever it is can wait," said Elsie.

"It's okay, Elsie, really," said Lara.

"They can freeze their asses off for all I care," said the blonde.

"No, they won't," said Lara, a smile detectable in the brunette's voice.

Elsie's shoulders sagged. She was right, of course.

The bell rang again.

 _Dammit!_

"Go," said Lara.

"It was…so nice talking to you, Lara," said Elsie.

"It really was," echoed the brunette. "We'll talk again, I promise."

"I'd like that," squeaked Elsie. "Goodbye, Lara…"

"Happy Christmas, Elsie…"

The call disconnected.

She sat in the armchair, wiping her eyes. For the first time all day her mood had risen from the dumpster.

At least until…

A knock on the door. _Oh, for -_

She pushed herself up and fairly stormed her way to the landing.

 _Whoever you are, you better be ready for an ass-kicking…_

She swung the door open more violently than she'd intended, startling the UPS driver waiting outside.

"Oh…sorry…" she said, confused as to why a deliveryman would be there.

"Elsie Trainor?" the man asked, holding a small package in his hand and an electronic clipboard in the other.

"Uh, yes…?"

"Sign here please," he said, handing the clipboard and stylus to the blonde.

Elsie scribbled her signature on the display and handed the clipboard back to the driver. "Isn't it kinda late for you to be making deliveries?"

"You're my last stop for the day," said the man, handing the tiny parcel over. "Merry Christmas, Miss."

"Yeah," she said in confusion as the man trudged back to his van in the snow. "Merry Christmas…"

She drew back inside and closed the door behind her.

She brought the parcel into the study and set it on her desk, thoroughly mystified; she hasn't made any online purchases of late.

Then she noticed the originator's shipping label.

 _Royal Mail. London._

"Oh my God…"

She took a pair of scissors and slowly opened the outer packaging, revealing Christmas wrap underneath. She delicately unwrapped the package, being careful not to tear the paper, until a miniature hinged box revealed itself. She carefully opened the tiny container.

Inside lay a tiny heart-shaped LED tea light.

Elsie felt her own heart rising in her throat.

She gently lifted the gift from the small package and pressed a tiny recessed button on the back; the heart glowed with a soft pinkish hue.

In the bottom of the box was a small card:

 _Love you always,_

 _\- Lara_

Elsie slouched back in her chair, clutching the tiny glowing heart to her breast.

"I love you too, Lara…" she whispered.


End file.
